The Minoan Game
by omasuoniwabanshi
Summary: AU story. Serenity has the key to the popular but mysterious game that's swept the world. Seto wants it. How far will he go to get it? SetoXSerenity COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: All Yu-gi-oh characters and plot elements are the property of their creator and not me.

A/N: Writer's block is a dastardly disease. I'm so blocked that I'm dusting off and posting the first AU story I ever wrote. Apologies to the Yu-gi-oh fans who love the card game, but this is so AU that even the game itself has been changed for purposes of the plot. You'll understand why if you make it to the last chapter.

The Minoan Game

CHAPTER ONE

The subway was packed again, but Serenity managed to find a seat. She sighed, and wished for the hundredth time that she could A. afford a car and B. afford the garage fees, insurance, and inevitable parking ticket fees incurred by every New Yorker who owned a car. She hoped Adam, her workaholic boss, would not be amped on caffeine yet when she got to work. It was hard enough keeping up with the marketing director when he wasn't on his fifth cup of coffee. Being assistant to a marketing director in a busy New York firm wasn't quite what she'd imagined when she stayed on after college to get an M.B.A., but it was a good entry level job, even if the low pay kept her in a cheap apartment a long subway ride away from her work. The harassed-looking woman next to her got off, and a young junior executive type got on. He was listening to some talk radio news program on a walkman. He had it on so loud she could hear every word despite the earphones.

The program was about the Minoan Game Tournament soon to be held in Japan. One of the commentators was arguing that the tournament wasn't really a sport, so it shouldn't be mentioned during the sports segment of the news, while the other commentator was arguing that it took more skill than chess, so it deserved news coverage, especially since it had become an international phenomenon since being introduced 10 years ago.

Serenity smiled, the program reminded her of her brother, Joey. The last time she'd seen him, he'd been in town for the American finals of the Minoan Game tournament. Joey had been an engineering major in college with minors in mathematics and geology. He'd become hooked in college on the Minoan Game, a board game utilizing flat, domino shaped game chips based on the actual game chips found in archeological excavations on Crete. Joey was now one of the top international competitors. He was constantly traveling during the "game season" and during other times he worked for a long suffering company of architects, who forgave his wandering as long as he worked while on the road and emailed the results to them. She knew he barely lived at his apartment in town, which he sublet from a friend. He also had a house on the West Coast, for when he worked at the firm's L.A. office, so she supposed he was doing well. With nothing better to do, she listened in to the program coming from the executive's headphones.

"Since Niko Andromachus created the game, it's become bigger than chess!" argued the gruffer voiced commentator. "The top competitors are as famous to the Minoan Game fans as Tony Hawk is famous to skateboard fans. How can you say that it's not newsworthy?"

"I'm not saying it's not newsworthy," the other commentator defended himself, "just that it's not the real game the Minoans used to play. Andromachus made it up. They never found a rule-book in the ruins, he just guessed. At least chess is the same game it's always been."

"Who cares? It's still big news, and Americans can root for the Americans going to Tokyo to represent us this year. Seto Kaiba, Joey Wheeler, and that new kid, Bobby Taylor, that everyone has their eye on."

The executive got up, gathered his briefcase and Wall Street Journal, and exited the subway. Another one, juggling a starbuck's cup and a doughnut took his place. Serenity clutched her briefcase, resting on her lap. They'd mentioned Joey's name! He was famous, at least to Minoan Game fans. She felt a glow of pride. She really should pay more attention to his gaming career, but she'd been so busy the past year and a half with the new job, and the move to New York.

As for the job, there didn't seem to be much immediate opportunity for advancement, since her boss tended to not want to delegate any more than he had to. Serenity soon realized she wasn't as competitive or ambitious as Adam, and had fallen into the role of helper and smoother over of hurt feelings since her boss, while productive, was about as sensitive as a hippopotamus. So it fell to her to use her people skills to give the presentations, showcasing his ideas with tact and enthusiasm, and carefully giving Adam his very well deserved credit.

Serenity supposed that she should start looking around for another job, one where she could start making executive type, innovative decisions. That was, after all, why she'd gone on to graduate school to get her MBA. She'd been shocked and grateful to find out at the end of the two years that her brother, Joey, had paid off her school loans without telling her, so she went into the job market without any debts weighing her down. That was Joey, thoughtful and so protective of her since their parents had died.

She got off at her stop, and made her way to the office, smiled hello to the receptionist, Judith, and braced herself for another roller coaster ride of a day as assistant to a marketing director who was brilliant, but as prickly as a porcupine.

o-o-o

"We got a call from Gustav Larson while you were gone."

Seto Kaiba held the jet's phone closer to his ear. He'd just spent a week in the North Sea, stuck on an oil derrick he was considering buying, while a storm raged and all cellphone communication was broken off due to atmospheric interference. He hadn't talked to the New York office in days and was anxious to get home to his work, and his little brother. He disliked leaving Mokuba alone in the apartment with just the staff and security guards for company. The minute he'd got back to dry land he'd headed for the company jet, waiting for him at the airfield, lifted off. Calling his security chief, Angus Kirk, was next on his agenda.

"What did Larson want?" Seto felt a surge of excitement. Gus Larson was on the Minoan excavation at Crete the summer that Niko Andromachus, another archeology student, took a look at the cache of artifact fragments that archeologists took to be some sort of a game, and created his own version of what came to be known as the Minoan Game. Andromachus made enough off the rights to the game to retire to his own private island in Greece. Larson was caught stealing artifacts and selling them to private collectors. Anyone who was interested in the history of the game was as familiar with the names of the archeologists involved in that dig as they were with their own family's names.

"He said he had a game chip for sale. A silver one." Angus' voice, with its lilting Scottish accent, was steady, but Seto knew that Angus was hiding some strong emotion. He'd confided in Angus enough for him to know how important finding a complete set of original gamechips was to Seto.

"Where is he?"

Angus sighed. "Unknown. When he realized you weren't in New York, he hung up before I could arrange a meeting and buy it for you."

Seto bit back a curse. "Tell me you traced the call."

"It was a cell phone, and Larson has no fixed address."

"Make inquiries, discreet ones, about the other collectors in New York. Rumor has it Larson's still an addict. He wouldn't go far from his suppliers if he needed money quickly."

"Will do. Larson did say something before he hung up…"

Seto waited patiently. "What?"

"He said 'my old buddy'll come through for me if Kaiba won't' but he didn't mention a name."

"Joey Wheeler." Seto said it out loud. Wheeler and Larson had been freshmen room-mates in college. Wheeler had mentioned it to Seto once when they were both waiting for their match to begin at a tournament several years ago. The memory had stuck because it had seemed incongruous for the professional, rather preppy looking Wheeler to have been connected, however long ago, with the black sheep of the archeological dig that had uncovered the Minoan game.

"Wheeler, eh?" said Angus, reflectively. "I'll get on it."

"Arrange a meeting for when I return. Don't take no for an answer. Wheeler's probably got the chip by now."

"Will do." Angus said again, and hung up.

Seto leaned back in the airplane seat. He'd spent the past few years working on a theory about the Minoan game. The pieces, the original ones from Crete, were key. The markings, in the indecipherable Minoan language, had intrigued archeologists for years. Archeologists were notoriously cash poor. Seto wasn't, and had used his considerable spare cash to set up a computer program to decipher them. It wasn't quite up to CIA decryption standards, and it was slower going than he'd expected, but it was at last up and running. However, no one – museum or private collector – had a complete set of original game chips. Many had been crushed, pulverized in the past earthquakes that had decimated the cache archeologists had found. Still, rumors abounded that Larson had found another hidden cache, and had been selling off those game chips illegally for years.

Larson's capture and incarceration had put a stop to that for five years, but he'd been released a few months ago. It didn't surprise Seto that the wily Larson might have had a few more pieces squirreled away for a rainy day. If Joey Wheeler had the last game chip Seto needed, then Wheeler would have to give it up, by whatever means Seto could utilize.

o-o-o

The black town car had been following Joey for the past half mile. New York traffic being what it was, he hadn't been surprised to see cutthroat driving.

But this car was acting strange. Stopped at a traffic light, Joey sat on his motorcycle and stared idly in the rearview mirror. The black car cut off a yellow cab half a block back, and zoomed up to join the line of cars in the lane behind Joey. There was space in the lane next to the black car, and only one car was in that lane, patiently waiting for the signal to change. So why didn't the black car get into the lane with less traffic if it was in such a hurry?

Joey's eyes narrowed. Maybe he was being paranoid, but…

The light changed. Joey gunned the motor and peeled out to the right, without using his turn signal. A bicycle courier cursed him imaginatively as Joey swerved to avoid him, and kept going.

The black car didn't bother to use its turn signal either. Joey turned left, then left again at the end of the block and ended up on the road he'd started on. So did the black car.

That did it. There was no reason to go around the block. It didn't save time, only wasted it. So the car really was following him.

Joey grinned. He might not have been born in New York, but he knew his way around it. It was time to lose the tail. Once again he silently thanked Mai for sharing her passion for motorcycles with him. Their marriage may not have lasted, Mai was too competitive and self destructive to be content with mere happiness for very long, but his interest in her favorite hobby had.

He took a sharp illegal left and headed away from down town. The black car followed. Joey chose the most circuitous route he knew, bursting through alleys and scaring the rats dining on spilled garbage. He took sidewalks if they were bare of pedestrians, and whizzed between cars stuck in traffic snarls, but still the black car followed.

Then it happened. Joey glanced back in the rearview mirror fixed to his handlebars for only a second, but when he looked back, the scene in front of him had changed drastically.

Before there'd been an empty road with a fallen and tangled mass of rusty chain link fence bordering it on the right, originally intended to protect pedestrians from falling down the steep embankment that led to a cement drainage ditch. Huge cement columns rose up on the left side, carrying the weight of a two-lane overpass above. People milled around in the shadows of the underpass, the lost souls of New York, as cars drove by.

One of the cars in the other lane honked and swerved as one of those lost souls staggered out into his lane. The car, a low slung two-door hatchback, had two choices, hit the homeless guy, or swerve into Joey's lane.

He chose Joey's lane. With few options available, Joey braked and swerved around the hatchback by going left into the hatchback's lane. He sensed more than heard the black car copying his maneuver, and slowed a bit before starting to ease back into his old lane. But the car behind him overcompensated, and didn't slow down enough as it too tried to regain the lane it had been in.

Joey had only a second of horrified realization before the black car careened into him. He heard the crunch of metal and felt the jarring impact, even as he tried to steer his motorcycle away. Then he was airborne, flying on his bike over the twisted metal of the chain link fence and crashing down the embankment once, twice, three times before coming to a hard, pain-filled stop in the shallow, dirty water at the bottom.

Dimly, Joey heard the sound of brakes at the top of the embankment. A car door opened with a metallic swish, and there was the sound of footsteps against concrete coming toward the edge of the embankment.

They were coming for him.

o-o-o

Serenity got off the subway in a bad mood. She'd stepped on a half filled cardboard coffee cup someone had left on the floor of the subway train. She now had coffee in her shoe, and no kleenax or anything to sop it up with. By the time she got to the office, her toes were sodden. At the reception desk Judith left her post and came up to Serenity, who stopped, puzzled. She almost never saw Judith leave her desk. Judith, a tall, capable woman with streaked hair went further out of character, and touched Serenity's arm.

"You have a message." Her grey eyes shone with concerned sympathy. Serenity felt a pit in her stomach. It was bad news. The way Judith was acting, it had to be.

"It's your brother. He's been in an accident. He was on a motorcycle and a car sideswiped him. He's in the hospital."

"Joey? Joey's been hurt?" Serenity's briefcase dropped to the floor. Judith picked it up, and squeezed Serenity's arm.

"I've already told Adam." She turned, grabbed a message form off the reception desk and handed it to her. "Here's the address of the hospital. Your brother must have had your work number on him as an emergency number. They only called 10 minutes ago. If you go now, you might get there in time…" Judith trailed off.

Serenity began backing out the door. She felt like she'd been punched. Wordless, she turned and ran for the street, hailed a taxi and made it to the hospital in record time. A nurse at the front desk directed her to I.C.U.

The doctor on call there sat her down, and told her Joey was stable, but the prognosis wasn't good. He began explaining the extent of Joey's internal injuries and the technical reasons why surgery wasn't working, but she stopped listening as soon as she realized Joey was dying. She nodded every now and then, and that seemed to content the doctor. At last he stopped talking and let her into the room to see Joey.

He was lying on the hospital bed connected to machines. His head was bandaged, and so were both arms, lying outside the covers. When she came to stand beside him, his eyelids fluttered and opened.

"Serenity."

She reached out a hand, and touched his cheek, "I'm here."

His voice was faint, but urgent. "Listen to me. This wasn't an accident. The car was trying to force me off the road. He meant to do it."

"But, why?" This was a nightmare. This couldn't be her brother lying in a hospital bed, the victim of foul play. That happened to other people's brothers, not hers.

"I think they were trying to kidnap me, not kill me. When I went over the guardrail I heard their car door open, I think they were coming after me, but a truck stopped to see, and they drove away."

"Kidnap? Why would anyone…?"

Joey moved the fingers poking out of the bandages on his hand. Serenity reached over and covered them with her hand. He closed his eyes, gathered his strength and spoke again.

"I'm dying, Serenity."

"No, don't say that." Her denial was instinctive, not logical. How could she be logical at a time like this?

"I'm dying." He said it firmly, opened his eyes, and continued. "You have to promise me you'll do something for me, now."

"I promise."

He nodded, his gaze never leaving her face. "Go to my apartment. There's a safety deposit box key for First National Bank, the one down on Dyer street. It's taped to the inside of my printer. Open it like you're going to replace the ink cartridge, and you'll find it under the inside rim. Go to the bank, ask for box 76L, it's in both our names so they shouldn't give you any trouble. Inside there's an old game chip, a real Minoan artifact. Get it and hide it."

"A game chip?" asked Serenity incredulously. Joey was dying and all he could think of was that stupid game?

He turned his hand to tighten his fingers on hers. "This is important, Serenity. I got the chip from Gus Larson, my old room-mate. He was an archeology major, he did a summer internship on the Knossos site in Crete, you remember?"

"The one who got thrown in jail for selling Minoan artifacts illegally?" she squeaked.

"Yes. He's an addict now. I think he was then too. He hid this game chip before he went to jail. I visited him there once, and when he got out he looked me up to try to sell it to me."

"Oh Joey, you didn't buy a smuggled artifact!"

"Serenity, I had to. It's more important than you know, but listen, the important thing is, Larson tried to sell it to Seto Kaiba first, but he was out of the country so he called me next. I'd just got into town on business, and I got the call. He needed a fix, and I happened to have enough cash in my New York account. A day later I got back to the apartment after my business meeting to find the place tossed. They didn't find the chip, but I know that's what they were looking for."

Serenity felt sick. What on earth had Joey got himself into? "But what's so important about it?"

"Lean over." Joey commanded. She obeyed and he whispered the answer in her ear.

She pulled back. "That's nuts!"

"It's the only thing that makes sense."

She supposed it did, in a bizarre kind of way.

"Did you get the formula?"

She whispered the series of numbers back at him. They'd always both had excellent memories for numbers. She only had to hear a phone number, social security number, or locker combination once and she could recall it years later.

He winced, and settled his head back in the pillow. His eyes closed. "Don't trust Kaiba. He can't get that chip. If he's willing to kill for it, God knows what else he might do. Guard it with your life. The world depends on it. It's the last one of the original set the Minoans played with. All the others are in museums or private collections. You have to keep it safe."

"I will."

"Go now. Promise you'll get it now."

She backed away from the bed. "I love you Joey."

Faintly, from the bed, he answered. "I know you do. Now go."

She turned and ran. His apartment was a short taxi ride away, but she didn't want to be alone with her thoughts. She took the subway, slipping onto a train jam packed with people just as the doors were closing, and made her way to Joey's apartment. She opened the door with the key he'd given her a year ago, and found the safety deposit box key just as he said.

At the bank the man behind the counter took her request to open a safety deposit box as if it were a normal everyday occurrence, which she supposed it was for him. For her the day had taken on a tinge of unreality. She gave the guy her key, and he used it and the bank's key to open the box, and led her to a cubicle and closed her in with it.

She couldn't touch it at first, but then forced herself to lift the lid. Inside was a wad of cash, secured with a rubber band. Joey hadn't mentioned cash. What was it? Change from the illegal transaction with Gustaf Larson? She brushed it aside and underneath it was the gamechip.

Serenity had seen gamechips before. She'd watched Joey play with them often enough, but the Minoan gamechips were usually made of plastic or resin. Modern gamechips usually had pictures on them and some writing to denote their abilities or "powers" as the game terminology insisted. Each modern chip could do different things like capture other opposing chips, or freezing an opponent's turn, or simply move to certain spots on the rectangular game board.

This one was different. It was black, tarnished silver. Joey had tried to clean it somewhat, for there were patches of silver showing through. She placed her hand on it, drew her thumb over the surface and felt the markings carved into the chip's surface. The Minoans had two forms of written language, Linear A and Linear B. Archeologists were still having trouble deciphering them. She didn't know or care which language this was. All that mattered was getting back to the hospital to tell Joey that it was safe, that she'd got it just as he'd requested.

Closing her fingers over the chip, she pulled it out of the box and zipped it into the inside pocket of her purse. Leaving the cash, she called the manager back, handed him the box, let him relock it, and left.

Serenity rushed back to the hospital, finding a taxi a few blocks from the bank. She ran to the ICU floor, but when she got to Joey's bed, it was empty. She stared at it stupidly, until a nurse came up and told her that Joey had died.

That's when she collapsed into tears, sobbing on the hospital floor.

The nurse got her out of there and the rest of the day was spent in a haze of signing forms, calling Joey's lawyer, and finding out he'd already set up his own funeral arrangements when he'd written a will after getting divorced from Mai, the wife Serenity had disliked on sight. Because of her she hadn't seen Joey for almost a year at a stretch, until he'd finally caught on to Mai's shenanigans and dumped her.

The next two days were surreal. She flew to Los Angeles for the funeral. She'd thought there'd be a problem getting the body released, but the police seemed to think it was just a traffic accident. It was a misconception she let them keep. If she told them the truth, accused a man like Seto Kaiba, head of Kaiba International Corporation, there'd be an investigation. They'd want to know why a multimillionaire would kill an architect. If she let slip about the gamechip, she'd be breaking her promise to Joey. So she kept quiet and went back to Southern California where she'd grown up and gone to school, and watched them put Joey's body into the ground. She was the only close family member to attend. Their parents, long divorced, were both dead.

She even managed to be gracious to Mai in the lawyer's office for the reading of the will. She was shocked to discover that Joey had not only paid off her college and grad school bills, but had set up a modest trust for her. She couldn't touch the capital, but she'd have the interest, and it was enough for her to afford to move out of her crummy apartment to a nicer area. Mai was left a lump sum – Serenity was sure it was to shut her up and keep her from contesting the will, and the remainder went to various charities and a trust was set up for Uncle Henry, their mother's much older step-brother who had Alzheimers and was living in an assisted care facility in a memory-less haze.

The will didn't mention the game chip, but it did state that Serenity could take whatever personal belongings she wanted out of Joey's Los Angeles home and New York apartment before they were packed up and sold or the lease let go. She supposed that was enough to give her legal custody of the game chip, if you could legally own a smuggled artifact. All the while she was sitting in the leather chair in the lawyer's office, she was aware of the gamechip, still in her purse. It had traveled to L.A. in her suitcase, but apart from that, it was always in her purse. Joey had said guard it, so guard it she would, until she died.

The week after she got back from the funeral, Serenity noticed that she had trouble finding some of her things. Pens that were usually on the right side of a desk drawer had moved to the left. Her shoes were out of order in the closet, and the spices in the kitchen were disarranged. She shivered, but convinced herself she was imagining things. However, she began to make sure she locked her desk drawer with the purse and gamechip in it every day at work, and took the gamechip into her bedroom every night. Lying in her bed, Serenity tightened her fist around the cool metal, and thought of her promise to Joey.

If anyone figured out the truth behind the Minoan game, it would be a catastrophe beyond imagination.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

"The apartment's clean. No chip."

Angus Kirk's statement was an unwelcome one.

It was the end of a long day. The unintended stay in the North Sea put Seto behind schedule, and he was already moving things forward to compensate for losing another week at the upcoming Tokyo tournament. He'd worked hard to be one of the American finalists going to the international tournament. The game and the competitions had kept him sane when his parents had died. They were the victims of a drunk driver when he was only twenty-two. He'd had to drop out of grad school to take over his father's company, and care for his younger brother, a mere infant. His mother called Mokuba her 'miracle'. She'd been told that she'd never have another child after Seto, but in her early forties along came Mokuba. She'd been so happy to be a mother again, but she'd only enjoyed it for a few months when the accident happened.

With all the responsibilities heaped on him, both business and family responsibilities, Seto had needed an outlet, something just for him to get his mind off everything. That was the lure of the game. You had to be totally focused when playing, running strategies, thinking ahead six or seven moves in advance if you wanted to survive. Nothing else could intrude, so nothing did. Seto could play for hours against a worthy opponent and not even notice the passage of time.

Joey Wheeler had been such an opponent. They weren't friends, though they had spoken on occasion at tournaments while waiting for matches to begin. In their thirties, they were in a select age bracket of competitors, who started to play while in college and kept it up in the years following. Most of the players these days were young, lightweights to players of Seto's ability level. He'd miss Joey, but as the saying went, accidents happened. He turned his attention to Angus.

"Where else might the Wheeler girl have it? You've checked to see if she has a safety deposit box?"

"Yes, I checked. The lass has nothing like that, and she hasn't been back to the box that was in her and her brother's name since the day he died."

"Hmmm." They'd had to search long and hard for Wheeler's box at First National. He was canny for a mere architect, hiding the box's payments in a maze of accounts, and sending the bank's box rental bills to a post office box rented under an assumed name. If they hadn't searched Wheeler's Los Angeles lawyer's office, they'd never have found the paper trail that led to the box. "Her office?"

"Searched her desk area after hours. Nothing. The only thing we haven't searched is her purse. She keeps it with her whenever she leaves the office, and it's locked in her desk when she is."

"And you haven't searched her desk because…?" Seto was intrigued. Angus did not mind bending the law in order to get Seto what he wanted. Breaking and entering were things his team – all ex-special forces or espionage experts – did as effortlessly as breathing. Industrial espionage was almost as vicious and cut throat as anything political entities dealt with, and the team Seto and Angus had assembled was one of the best in the business. Which begged the question, how had the woman's purse escaped scrutiny?

"She doesna' have an office with walls. She's in one of those cubicles with the half walls." Angus explained in disgust, his accent thickening with emotion. "Her _employer_" he imbued the word with contempt, "appears ta think his employees will na slack off if he can see them, so the cubicles are open. There's no way ta break into her desk withoot bein' seen." Angus' Scottish accent thickened, a clear indication of his frustration.

"If the office is out, we'll have to be more direct."

"The lass doesna' go aboot without her bag."

Seto glanced at his desk calendar. There wasn't much time until the Tokyo tournament, and he wanted the issue resolved. Tired of the delay, he pushed his chair back from the desk. "Fine, then we go to her and get it. Call the limo. I assume you have a man on her apartment?"

Angus nodded. "Ye're not thinking of going along?"

"I am." said Seto in a tone that brooked no argument. Angus looked unhappy, but took out his cellphone and called down to the building's garage. The limo was out front waiting by the time the elevator reached the lobby of Kaiba International's headquarters.

On the way to the apartment where Joey's sister lived, they got caught in one of New York's interminable traffic snarls, and it was well past the dinner hour when they arrived on the side street where Serenity Wheeler's apartment building was located. Angus got out after the limo parked a short distance past the building, and walked quickly across the street to talk to a man sitting on the stoop of a cheap hotel across from the apartment. When he came back to the limo, he reported to Seto that his man in the building across the way could see Serenity's purse through the window. It was on the sofa of the living room. The bathroom window just started to steam up so she must have just stepped into the shower.

"It's in the purse. We've checked everywhere else. I'll go in, check it, and be out before she needs her towel." Angus volunteered.

"Do it."

Waiting in the limo, Seto stared across at the building Angus disappeared into. It wasn't exactly a ghetto, but it was definitely on the lower side of lower middle class. The chauffeur was wise to park away from the door. They stood out like a sore thumb in this neighborhood. Seto wasn't worried about Angus getting caught. If the man said he could get in and out before the women stepped out of the shower, he would.

His cell phone rang.

"Kaiba." Seto answered.

He listened in silence, then cursed briefly when the call ended. Another ancient game chip had been stolen from a museum, this one in Sydney, Australia. Seto's agents, the same ones who negotiated his purchases of ancient game chips, were also his intelligence gatherers. There had been a rash of robberies lately.

"Fools" thought Seto contemptuously. How clumsy to steal the chips, when all you really had to do if the museum wouldn't sell was break in, photograph the markings, and be gone with no one the wiser. He had photographs of nearly every type of ancient game chip ever discovered, and he hadn't tipped his hand to do it. Still, the news was troubling. The Tokyo tournament began in less than two weeks time, and it seemed someone else was getting close to the truth about the Minoan game.

Angus appeared, slipped into the car, and said, sourly, "It's no' in the purse. There's an end to it unless you want me ta go back and see if she took it into the bath with her." Angus gestured to a lighted window on the 4rth floor.

"Time's getting short. I need that chip." Seto looked up at the apartment. The light went off in the bathroom. It next came on strong in the window beside it, probably the living room, and then the light went out. "Where is she now?"

"The bedroom I expect," said Angus. It's off the living room."

Seto stared up at the apartment. He'd wasted more time than he had just trying to ascertain if she even had the gamechip. If someone else were desperate enough to be stealing chips, he'd need to get hers before they did. He came to a decision.

"I'm going up."

"What?"

"This is getting us nowhere. I'll ask her point blank if she's got it, and if she does, I'll buy it off her."

"And if she doesna' want ta sell?" asked Angus.

"She'll sell." Seto was now determined to get his way. "And if she doesn't, I'll simply take it and deposit the money directly into her account. Who'll believe her? Besides, how will she know who I am? I'm not planning to give her my name." Seto reached for the door handle.

"Let me go," objected Angus. "Ye're too well known."

Amused, Seto reminded Angus that he hadn't been pictured in the newspapers or magazines in years, not even for tournaments. Angus seemed to think that CEOs were like movie stars, that everyone knew them.

"What are the chances she'd recognize me? From what we were able to determine, she's never been to a tournament outside the country, and rarely even went to her brother's matches even when he was competing in America."

Angus sighed, reflecting again that for an arrogant man, Seto was remarkably unaware of how striking his physical appearance was. Perhaps it had to do with his steering clear of long-term relationships, and taking women's compliments as just one more lie. He didn't trust women, not after the ever so motherly and helpful-appearing secretary of his father had stabbed him in the back by helping some board members try to take over his company.

"Take one of the men as backup, you never know, she could be armed."

Seto nodded, bowing to Angus' security concerns. "Agreed, so long as he stays down the hall and out of sight. I don't want to scare her, and two visitors are more intimidating than one."

Seto got out of the car, jogged across the street to the apartment building, picked the lock on the main door, and entered, a security man named Fergus on his heels.

o-o-o

Up in her apartment, Serenity finished brushing out her hastily blow-dried hair, and looked in the bathroom's tiny mirror. The girl who looked back at her was tired, paler than usual, with slight traces of dark circles under her amber brown eyes. She gave a last brush to her straight, shoulder length brown hair, put on a long sleeved navy blue sleep T-shirt, and prepared to get into bed. It was only 9:00, but she was wiped out. She picked up the gamechip from her bedside table. She'd taken it out of her purse and into the bathroom with her. It was never far from her side. It reminded her of her brother. Joey had been gone for weeks now.

It was small; it fit into the palm of her hand, flat, rectangular, with those odd markings carved into the surface of the blotchy, tarnished silver. She continued to clutch it, as she climbed into bed, put it under her pillow, and turned off the light. Silently, she renewed her promise to Joey, to keep it away from Kaiba.

The memory of the misplaced items in her apartment came to her, causing her a shiver of uneasiness, but she shrugged it off and turned off the light. Just as the room went dark, she heard her doorbell chime. She turned the light back on, got out of bed, took a quick look to be sure the pillow still covered the game chip, then went to the door.

"Who's there?" she called, looking through the peephole and seeing only the dark hair of a man who'd leaned in, presumably to ring the bell again.

"My name wouldn't mean anything to you Miss Wheeler, I'm here on behalf of a party interested in purchasing an item from your brother's estate. May I come in and speak with you?"

As he spoke, he stepped back. She couldn't help exclaiming, "Kaiba!" in a tone of horror. She'd researched the man her brother had died escaping from, and had found a very old photo of him from a rare gaming magazine interview, and recognized him at once.

Through the peephole, she saw his eyes narrow.

"Then, if you know my name, you know what I want." His voice was quiet, conversational even, but it sent such a chill through her that she started backing away. "Open the door, Miss Wheeler, I won't ask again."

With a shock of horror, she heard the rasp of metal on metal and saw the lock on her door start to jiggle. He was picking the lock! She turned and ran to the bedroom and shut and locked the door. She had only seconds. She heard her apartment's outer door open, and Kaiba's quick footsteps moving swiftly to her bedroom door, so she snatched up the chip. It was too big to swallow, and the room offered nowhere brilliant to hide it. She went to put it down her shirt, but realized it would have fallen straight through to the floor, so she hiked up the back of her nightshirt, and stuck it in the back waistband of her pink cotton underwear, and dropped the nightshirt just as the door to her bedroom burst open, the pathetic little latch style lock giving way to Kaiba's shoulder.

She backed up as he came forward, his eyes intensely blue and determined, and saw another man over his shoulder, also entering the apartment, closing the outer door behind him. It was two against one. Her heart sank.

"I'll have the chip now, Miss Wheeler," Kaiba said and put his hand out, staring her down, as if determined to make her give it up by sheer force of will.

Serenity realized that her back was now quite literally against the wall. This was it. She raised her chin, and met his gaze "Never. I'll never give it to you, you murderer!" A quiver of emotion glanced over his face for an instant, and he dropped his hand.

"Fergus! Search the room."

The second man entered the tiny bedroom and methodically went through the drawers of her bureau, checked behind the pictures on the wall, under the bed, and around the bedside table.

"Maybe if they don't find it they'll just go" thought Serenity, shrinking back against the wall, and feeling the cold lump of metal at her back, as the man, Fergus, dropped to his knees beside her to search the second bedside table, and under the pillows and mattress by her side of the bed.

Fergus rose to his feet, and shook his head at Kaiba, who stood with arms crossed, his gaze never leaving Serenity. She'd felt it, even as she watched the man going through her things. Kaiba motioned to Fergus to go stand in the doorway.

"There's only one place left to look."

Frightened by the words, Serenity's eyes shifted to Kaiba, who'd dropped his arms so that they rested at his sides. He had the look of a man balanced lightly on the balls of his feet, poised to spring.

"You could make it a lot easier on yourself if you just handed it over."

Unable to speak, Serenity simply shook her head, and tried to push her back further into the wall. In a second, he was on her, his left hand covering her mouth even as she was drawing in a breath to scream, his right hand matter-of-factly skimming over her T shirt clad body, searching for the tell tale lump of metal. When he didn't find it, he made a humming noise in the back of his throat, looked briefly into her eyes, then in a lightning fast move, pulled her from the wall by balling the front of her nightshirt in his right hand, swinging her around shoving her face first down on the bed so that she went sprawling, arms outstretched and stomach down on the mattress, knees on the floor.

It knocked the breath out of her for a moment. Just as she was getting her hands under her to push herself up, his left hand landed on the middle of her back, pushing her down into the mattress as his right hand hiked up her nightshirt. She felt his fingers on her skin as he saw the gamechip, and grabbed it out of the elastic waistband. "No! Stop it!" There was nothing she could do, sprawled flat as she was. The utter helplessness of her position made her sick with panic.

The moment Kaiba had the chip, the weight of his hand left her back, and she sank to her haunches by the bed.

"Give it back!" Tears were streaking down her face. When had she started crying? Kaiba didn't bother to look at her as he brushed past her. She had to stop him. She stumbled getting to her feet. He heard her but barely paused as he made it to her bedroom doorway.

"I'll tell!" She sounded like a child. She had to come up with something better. "Besides, it's useless without the…" Appalled, she stopped herself before she could complete the sentence, but the words already had their intended affect.

Kaiba stopped dead, wheeled around in the door way and said very quietly, "without the what?"

Serenity found herself backing away from him, as a mouse might from the cat stalking it, for stalking her he most definitely was, moving lightly towards her, the gamechip clutched in his hand.

"I'll never tell you, never!" She said, and tried to roll away from him across the bed, but once again he was too fast for her, and somehow she was pinned against the bed, her wrists caught up in his large, capable hands, her legs pinned by his knee. His face was so close to hers she could feel his breath on her cheek. And there were those incredibly scary, clear blue eyes glaring down at her, and again the feeling of being utterly vulnerable, but she couldn't let herself give up. Not to him, not to Joey's killer. Why else would Joey have made her promise to keep the gamechip away from Kaiba, if he wasn't the one Joey suspected of causing the accident that took his life? Kaiba collected antique gamechips; it was common knowledge, though most of the gamechips she'd been able to discover that he owned had been bought from the museums, which purchased them from the Minoan excavation.

"Without the what?" Kaiba repeated.

Serenity swallowed "I'd die before I told you." She might not be able to move, but she could glare back at him, and did.

"Your brother was a gifted mathematician. If we were at war, he'd have been an excellent code breaker. I always wondered what he discovered during the games. What did he tell you at the hospital? You were seen talking to him before he died."

Serenity's eyes widened. How could he have known that? He must have been investigating her, or rather Joey. While she was looking up old articles at the library, and pouring through internet sources there on her lunch break so as not to use her work computer for personal business, he'd been finding out about her. The items which seemed slightly out of place in her apartment? She hadn't imagined that. It had been him, searching for the gamechip. Serenity kept her mouth firmly shut. She wasn't about to give him any more information.

Kaiba glared coldly at her another minute or two then said to the other man, waiting patiently in the doorway, "bind her, and bring her."

Serenity panicked. If they took her, who knew what Kaiba would do to get her to talk? She had no illusions about her ability to withstand torture. She opened her mouth to scream, only to have Kaiba anticipate that move again, and found his hand over her mouth. She continued to struggle as the other man, Fergus, found black electrical tape from her kitchen, and placed it over her mouth, and around her wrists and ankles.

"What now?" he asked his boss.

Kaiba stood. "Get her suitcase, pack some things, enough to look like she's gone on a trip. We probably have enough voice samples from the tap on her phone to generate a phone message to leave on her boss's answering machine saying she's been called away on family business. Wheeler had a place and an uncle in L.A., we'll say it's related to that."

Fergus nodded. "How are we going to get her out of here?" Kaiba glanced out the bedroom door and gestured toward the floor. "We'll take a page out of Cleopatra's book, and roll her up in that rug."

Serenity began to make keening noises. Joey had given her that rug. It was a real Afghan, aged to a dull rainbow of jewel toned reds, blues, and greens on a cream background, his housewarming gift when she'd found the apartment and started moving in.

Fergus raised an eyebrow, "She'll be a noisy rug."

Kaiba took a cell phone out of his pocket, dialed, and told someone on the other end. "We're taking her with us. I'll need some sort of sedative." He listened for a moment, said, "Not optional." listened again, said "good." and hung up. "Get the suitcase going," he ordered, and left the bedroom.

In absolute misery, Serenity watched Fergus take her suitcase out of the closet and begin stuffing it with clothes. She tried to move her wrists apart, but couldn't. She could hear Kaiba moving her furniture around to get the rug out from under the sofa and coffee table.

Soon another man entered her bedroom. He was tall and solid looking. Pale skin, also blue eyed, but his eye color was more of a subdued grey blue than Kaiba's startlingly blue eyes. His hair was sandy red, streaked with grey, and he carried a small briefcase. He sat on the bed, opened it, and took out a syringe and a bottle. Using the syringe, he drew some liquid out of the small bottle.

The spell of horrified fascination holding Serenity in thrall broke, and she began squirming frantically away from the new man. Unimpressed, he squirted a few drops of the liquid out of the syringe, careful that they fell into the briefcase. He reached over with one hand and pulled her toward him by her bound wrists.

The man called Fergus had left the bedroom, presumably to get toiletries from the bathroom, so it was Kaiba who came by the bed, grabbed her by the shoulders, and held her still as the red headed man shoved up her sleeve, found a vein and emptied as much of the syringe into it as he could with Serenity still trying to squirm away.

The last thing she remembered was looking up to see Kaiba's face, watching the needle in her arm. He was so dispassionate. It was like looking at Joey while he was playing in a tournament; "putting on his game face" he called it. He told her you had to hide your emotions while playing, just like you did in poker.

She hadn't liked it in Joey; it made him look like a stranger, which was why she hadn't gone to very many of the tournaments, though she knew he loved them.

Then the room went dark, and she was gone.

**Note to Reviewers:**

Thanks to Sakurelle and Sueb262 for the encouragement. Sue, I'll definitely call on you for bike-y questions!


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-gi-oh characters or plot.

CHAPTER THREE

When Serenity woke up, she was in an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar room. She had a headache, and her mouth felt dry. Panicking, she sat up too quickly, and the room spun, so she put her hands to her temples to try to push the pain back inside. Her wrists were free. Bemused, she held them out in front of her. There were traces of sticky adhesive, but the electrical tape was mostly gone.

Then it hit her. She was in a bed. Looking down, she was relieved to see that her sleep T-shirt was still on. It didn't feel like she'd been assaulted, apart from being tied up, but who knew what Kaiba had in store for her? Not liking that thought, she drew her knees to her chest, and hugged them, laying her head on her knees, and waited for the affects of whatever drug they'd given her to wear off a bit more.

She'd failed Joey, and failed him badly. Kaiba had the gamechip. The one thing she'd promised not to let happen, had happened. And she was very much afraid she was about to fail him again. Kaiba was a monster. She couldn't let him win, but how could she hope to keep Joey's last secret if he started to torture her? She wasn't a trained spy; she was a wuss when it came to pain. Even if Kaiba didn't actually hurt her, if he used truth serum on her, she didn't have the least idea how to fight that.

"I'm going to die here." She faced the truth squarely. Kaiba never intended to let her go free, how could he? She'd seen his face, and not even a multi-millionaire could get out of a kidnapping charge. Not in America anyway. What to do? Escape, if she could, and if not…well, better to die by her own hand than by his. Joey's secret was too important to risk. But how to do it? She'd never contemplated suicide before, and for some reason it was really hard to focus her thoughts. They kept flying away from her like a flock of sparrows.

It was either escape, or die trying. Energized by her goal, she got out of bed, staggered over and tried tapping the walls They were solid, even in the spacious closet, which did NOT contain her suitcase of clothes – an even more ominous sign that he intended to kill her. Why give the victim a change of clothes? She tried the door. It was locked and equipped with one of those cardkey swipes and keypads like they had in a good hotel. That left the window, located over the writing desk on the far wall.

Woozily, she pulled the chair out, and used it to clamber onto the writing desk. The walls were stone, the windowpane cold against her forehead as she leaned into it to look down on an alleyway below. She was up high. The building had to be at least 15 stories tall. Would she die right away when she fell? 15 stories. There was no way anyone could survive that. Was there? Anyhow, with forensic science being what it was today, they'd be able to tell what window she fell from surely. That ought to get Kaiba in trouble. Hah! Try explaining that away Mr. "let's put a fake message on her boss's answering machine". And if she died tonight, that fake message would be scrutinized, and found wanting. She reached down to the window's sill and tried to pull it open. It stuck. It was painted completely shut. Serenity felt like crying. How to get out?

Then she looked over and saw the chair. Poor chair. It would have to go. Like her. Like Joey.

Why was it so difficult to think clearly? Shouldn't she leave a note or something? But addressed to whom? Any note she left incriminating him, Kaiba would tear up, and besides, who would miss her? Her boss at work got along fine without an assistant before she was hired and could easily do without her. Joey had been her only close family. Uncle Henry didn't recognize anyone anymore, and wouldn't miss her. As for loved ones, what loved ones? Her friends back at USC had scattered across the country after graduation, and only she had stayed on for a master's degree. She'd only had one boyfriend in college, and he'd been a grabber. She'd got tired of dodging being mauled every time he got drunk, and broke up with him, telling him she needed to concentrate on school. He'd bounced back nicely and started going out with a cheerleader the next week, who told everyone Serenity was frigid, just because she'd refused to sleep with him.

No, there would be no note.

Slipping off the desk, she leaned against it. She had to get the window open somehow. She grabbed the chair next to her and swung it over the desk. It connected with the window with a satisfying crack, but the glass held. Furious, Serenity swung it again, and again. The glass finally shattered. Dropping the chair, she climbed onto the desk, barely feeling the cuts as her knees pressed into the shards lying there. Even the pain seemed to have fuzzy edges surrounding it, like her thoughts.

A nice big hole was in the center of the window now. She leaned through it and looked down, using her palms to push more of the glass away. A faint tinkling sound was all they made when they fell. There was still a lot of glass left at the top and sides of the window, but what did she care? All she had to do was keep leaning forward, and forward, and soon gravity would do the rest. Closer, closer, and…

"No! Don't do it! I won't let you die!"

A small hand was on her ankle. Where had that come from? Shocked, Serenity whipped around to look, and sliced her left arm by the shoulder deeply on the jagged window glass as she turned. Hissing with pain, she saw a small black haired boy in flannel train pajamas reach up around her waist and tug at her. As he moved in, his chest came closer to the glass on the table. She had to stop him before he sliced himself!

She tried to push him aside with her left arm, but it was on fire with pain, and she felt a streamlet of blood falling down her arm inside the sleeve. As she twisted around, she overbalanced and fell backward off the desk, landing partly on the boy, who let out a startled "ouff," so she rolled off him as quickly as she could.

The child sat up, shook his mop of curly black hair out of his eyes, and Serenity found herself looking into Kaiba's ice blue eyes, yet they were not quite the same. These eyes were worried, beseeching. This was not an expression a child should have. Some things were still not very clear in Serenity's thoughts, but that thought had the clarity of an ingrained moral imperative. Something had to be done. He looked like he was about to cry.

"Why did you save me?" she asked the boy softly, unable to think of anything else to distract him.

"That's what knights do, silly," he answered, then looked down, "Sorry, I'm not supposed to call people silly."

"That's alright."

Two men in dark suits rushed into the room with guns drawn, saw the boy, and the guns vanished. They moved in toward Serenity. She shrank back, and the child noticed. He clambered to his feet, put his hands on his hips and stepped in front of her.

"Stay back! I saved her and she's hurt. Go get a doctor now!"

One of the men hesitated, saw the blood on Serenity's arm and knees, and left at a run. "But Mokuba, your brother…" began the other.

"My brother leaves me in charge when he's not here, and you're supposed to protect me. And she's my responsibility now because I saved her so you have to protect her too." The child stuck out his chin stubbornly, and Serenity began to see more of Seto Kaiba in him, as he faced down the bodyguard.

"My orders are to keep her here. Whatever else you want to do with her is your call," the man returned calmly.

Serenity was impressed. The bodyguard knew how to set boundaries yet leave the kid some dignity. She made a mental note to compliment him later on, if she survived. She was beginning to realize that her gash on the shoulder was dropping a lot of blood onto the carpet. Bemused, she watched it drip off her little finger and start to form a puddle.

Why were the edges of her vision going dark?

She started swaying, and things got fuzzy for a moment, or maybe it was more than a moment because the next thing she knew she was lying on a stainless steel kitchen table. The little version of Seto Kaiba stood next to her, holding a tray of instruments for a man she presumed was a doctor, who was stitching up a deep cut on her shoulder.

As he worked he muttered to the boy. "Look at that, see there, Mokuba? You need to keep the edges straight, or she'll have an ugly scar. You never want a pucker affect, just two straight lines, parallel, see?"

Mokuba nodded firmly, his eyes on her wound. She tried to look too, but had to look away. She couldn't stand the sight of blood. They'd torn open her nightshirt sleeve to get to the wound. She wondered if they'd give her back some of her clothes to make up for it, then remembered that they were going to kill her so why would they? As a matter of fact, why were they bothering to sew her up? Were they afraid she'd die of blood loss before they had a chance to interrogate her? The thought made her feel sick.

"Where's Seto Kaiba?" she asked.

"Ah" the doctor turned hard brown eyes on her. "Back to the land of the living I see, Miss. I don't know where Kaiba the elder is, but I must say I'm very glad for Kaiba the younger's help here."

Mokuba, for that was his name, grinned up at the doctor, who turned his hard gaze back on Serenity.

"Now I suggest you lie still young lady, and let me do my job. Leave the questions for later." And with that warning, he got back to work.

Soon the stitches were done. "Don't get it wet for at least a week. That means no showering without a waterproof covering, wash it in saline solution, and put polysporan on it twice a day until the stitches come out." And with that, the doctor bustled out, leaving Mokuba, Serenity, and a bored looking guard sitting in the kitchen chair, arms crossed, watching.

Serenity sat up on the table, and swung her legs over the edge. Thank goodness the nightshirt was long, coming down to her knees. Though there'd been moments back in her bedroom when she'd felt it hiking up as she'd struggled with Seto Kaiba that caused her a bit of belated embarrassment.

The child was looking at her anxiously. She shivered involuntarily. He looked so like Seto. The coloring, hair and eyes were the same, but while Seto Kaiba's face was all hard planes, this kid's face still had the rounded softness of childhood, and he was a lot shorter. He couldn't be more than seven or eight years old. Kaiba couldn't have been much out of his teens when this child was conceived. Serenity tried to remember how old the multimillionaire was from the articles she'd read. They'd all harped on his youth when he'd taken control of Kaiba International. He must be 30 or so now, about five years older than she was.

"Does it hurt bad?" the kid asked while leaning toward her, and putting his hand unselfconsciously on her knee. It rested on her kneecap next to one of the many band-aids she seemed to have acquired there. If it had been Seto, she would have clocked him one, no matter how much it hurt, but this was a child, and his head barely crested the tabletop.

"No, it's fine."

Actually it was quite numb. Serenity bit her lip. Why was she reassuring a Kaiba? Things were complicated now. At least she seemed to be thinking more clearly. Glancing at her shoulder, she grimaced at the sight of the ugly black stitches. Someone had cut through her nightshirt sleeve from the shoulder to halfway down her arm, and the material was crusted with dried blood, though her skin was clean. The doctor's tender ministrations no doubt.

What kind of a doctor stitched up a kidnap victim without so much as a question? Then it hit her; perhaps he didn't know she was a kidnap victim. She hadn't told him. What if he thought she was some bimbo Seto Kaiba had brought home! Her forehead creased as an expression of horror crossed her face.

She felt a reassuring squeeze on her knee and shifted her focus to the blue-eyed kid. "It will be alright. When it heals it won't look bad at all. Dr. Spencer is the best. He's been our doctor since…well since forever. He says if we took you to the hospital he could have put in staples, but he didn't have any with him." Mokuba sounded almost disappointed. So Spencer was the family doctor, and obviously on call at a moment's notice and probably very discreet. Even if she'd told him the truth it probably wouldn't have made a difference. She waited to see what the kid would do next.

He smiled shyly, and she melted. This kid was going to break hearts when he was older. He was adorable. She had to fight the urge to smile back.

"We should probably put you to bed." He said gravely, going serious. "You're hurt and the best thing for it is rest. That's what Dr. Spencer always says."

The guard at the door immediately stood up and came forward. Serenity cringed, not relishing the thought of being manhandled again. The kid noticed and moved to stand between her and the guard.

"What are you doing?" he demanded to know imperiously.

"Taking her back to her room." The guard stood, expressionlessly, hands folded, as if at ease in the army sense of the term.

"You can't. It's got a broken window, she'll catch her death." What odd expressions the kid used. It was as if he were around older people a lot and picked up on their clichés.

"The window's been taped up, and I'll be in the room to be sure she doesn't try it again," countered the guard.

"No." Mokuba all but stamped his foot. "She doesn't like you, and besides I saved her. She'll stay with me. I'll guard her." Mokuba twisted around to look up at her. "You can stay in my room! It'll be like a sleepover! It'll be fun!"

Serenity opened her mouth to say…she couldn't think of a thing. Helplessly, she let her eyes meet those of the guard, and found herself sharing that exasperated "kids!" look that adults tended to share in situations where children said something wildly improbable.

Mokuba grabbed her leg, which was dangling off the table, and clung to it. "I'm in charge, and I say she stays with me." He said firmly, then ruined the effect he was going for by continuing. "Please? Please can she stay with me? My bedroom doesn't have windows. I'll protect her, I promise!"

The guard gave a muffled sigh, stepped back and began talking into his hand, or rather some kind of microphone concealed in his hand.

In a minute, another guard showed up, took a long, hard look at her, and said, "Alright. She stays in Mokuba's room. There's no egress aside from the door, and you stay on that."

Then he left. With very little choice, Serenity slipped off the kitchen table, and allowed Mokuba to take her by the right hand, and pull her out of the kitchen, past the guard who followed closely. The child led her to an interior door down a corridor, prattling all the while about how wonderful Dr. Spencer was. On his door was a keypad. Mokuba punched the code in too fast for her to read, and still talking, hauled her into the room. As she glanced back, she saw the guard take up his position across the hall. Their eyes met briefly, and she knew he'd have no problem taking her down if she ever managed to get out of Mokuba's room.

She took a breath and surveyed Mokuba's room.

It didn't look the room of a spoiled rich kid. It was good sized, with room to play in the center, but it wasn't overly large. The walls were painted dark blue, and the ceiling looked like stars were painted onto it. A twin bed with a blue and green tartan coverlet was against the far wall. To her left was a bookcase, and what looked to be a toy chest with a large bedraggled teddy bear sitting on top, next to a pile of toy cars. To her right were 2 doorways to a bathroom and closet, she presumed. In between them was a writing desk, child sized, with a mirror and bookshelf over it. On the walls were posters of Minoan game tournaments. Mokuba saw her looking at them.

"Those are the tournaments my brother placed in. He came this close" he pinched his thumb and forefinger almost together "to winning last year. My brother is the best player in the whole world. Well, almost best," he amended.

Serenity smiled sadly. Joey had been at many of those same tournaments. She remembered the emails he'd sent, and the postcards. They'd loved getting postcards from vacationing friends from exotic places when they were kids, and Joey had kept up the practice. She had to blink to keep from crying again. She couldn't afford to cry.

"You're really tired." said Mokuba critically, and began pushing her toward the bed. "Lie down!" he ordered.

Serenity sat down with a thump that jarred her shoulder. The anesthetic was definitely beginning to wear off and it was starting to ache. "But this is your bed."

"I'll sleep on the floor! That way if a dragon comes, I can jump up and protect you." He ran to the toy chest, shoved the lid up, causing the teddy to be squished against the wall, and took out a plastic King Arthur sword, brandishing it grandly.

Serenity wanted to cry. The only dragon in this place was Seto Kaiba. She swallowed. "Does your dad know you have that sword?" she asked lamely.

"Oh, my dad's dead." He said matter-of-factly, shutting the toy box lid, and putting the teddy bear firmly back in the center.

"Then Seto is…?"

"Seto's my brother. My dad and mom died in a car accident when I was a baby."

"I'm so sorry." Serenity said automatically, beginning to remember more of what the article had said of Seto Kaiba's background. If it mentioned that Seto had a little brother, it must have been a very brief reference. Actually, since the most information she'd been able to find on him was in obscure back issues of gaming magazines the articles tended to focus on his skill in gaming, secondarily on his business acumen, and only lastly on personal information. Reading between the lines, she'd got the impression that Seto Kaiba refused to answer questions about his personal life.

"It's OK." Mokuba came and sat by her on the bed. "I don't remember them, so I'm not sad. But don't tell Seto." He looked anxious. "He'd feel bad because he does remember them. He tells me about them sometimes, but it's like hearing a story mostly." He slipped off the bed and onto the floor. "Go to sleep now." He ordered.

"What about you? Don't you want a sleeping bag? Or a pillow?" Was this kid really going to sleep on the floor?

"Nope! Knights don't need pillows." Mokuba said scornfully.

What to do? Serenity wasn't used to being around children. She couldn't just let the kid sleep on the floor. He'd catch pneumonia or something. She had to think fast.

"Mokuba. I appreciate you guarding me, but couldn't you do it a little closer to me? I'm scared," she lied. Mokuba's room was probably the safest place to be in the whole building. Even a monster like Seto Kaiba wouldn't kill her in his own little brother's room. She squirmed back, pulling her feet under the covers, and making a "U" shape with her body to make room for the child. "If you sit here on the edge of the bed I'd feel a lot safer."

Mokuba's head popped up over the edge of the mattress, and regarded the space she'd made. "Well…" he began doubtfully.

"Just until I fall asleep, and then you can go back to guarding me from the floor."

"OK" Mokuba scooted up onto the bed, his back to her, and laid his plastic sword across his knees as he sat. "Just until you sleep," his tone making it politely clear that he was only doing it because she was a silly girl.

It only took about 10 minutes before Mokuba began to nod off. Serenity didn't dare move to even turn off the light switch by the bed. Eventually, he leaned back against her. The sword fell to the carpet, and he naturally curled up into a little ball against her stomach and slept. When she was sure he was really asleep, she pulled the coverlet over him, wincing at the pain emanating from the stitches in her left shoulder. It seemed easiest just to let her wounded arm stay over him when she'd covered him, so she did.

An hour passed. It was now 1:00 in the morning by the clock on Mokuba's bedside table. The pain in her shoulder kept her awake, otherwise it was oddly comfortable, if unfamiliar, to have a child curled up against her.

Was this how it felt to be a mother? This wave of protectiveness? Even his unruly mop of black hair, which seemed to want to get into her nose and mouth, smelled of clean child. She wondered how it would feel to have a child of her own, then quickly banished that thought. She was way too busy at her job to think of dating. Her boss kept her odd hours at the office whenever he had a major project going on, which was all the time. She'd kept expecting things to settle down, but even after almost two years it never did. Besides, she probably wasn't going to get out of this one alive.

The door opened quietly, and a second later she was looking up into the coldly furious eyes of Seto Kaiba. He glanced quickly at the huddled form of his brother next to her, and kept his voice low.

"You put my brother in danger. You'll pay for that."

Serenity got mad, gloriously, freeingly, angry. "In danger?" she hissed quietly "I got _this_" she jerked her chin at the stitches on her shoulder "because I _let_ him pull me out of that window. Besides, I'm not the murderer here. I don't go around kidnapping people. In short, Mr. high and mighty Seto Kaiba, I'm not you!"

Kaiba growled deep in his throat, then wheeled about and stalked out without a word, shutting the door silently behind him.

Serenity began to shake in reaction, not sure whether to laugh or cry. She'd just vanquished the dragon, temporarily it was true, but she hadn't even had to use Mokuba's sword.

o-o-o

"Angus, how far along are you on the message?" Seto was on his cellphone the minute he stepped out of his brother's room.

"Nearly doon." Seto knew Angus must be getting tired. His Scottish accent thickened considerably.

"I want redundancy on this. It has to appear that she flew to L.A. tonight, tomorrow at the latest. If someone checks on it later, I need there to be proof."

"Not a problem."

Seto disconnected and went to his bedroom to pace. When he'd left the studio, Angus and one of his technical security advisors had still been hard at work on blending together words and phrases from the Wheeler girl's taped phone conversations to make a coherent, seamless recording saying she'd gone to L.A. for a week or two.

Seto had no way of knowing whether or not Serenity Wheeler had any vacation time left, but he thought she might. She was the sort of earnest young worker who forgot to take vacations. Still, if her company became suspicious, they might just call airlines to find out if she'd really gone or if she'd lied. If she didn't turn up after two weeks, there'd be some sort of investigation, and Seto needed the trail to lead to Los Angeles, and away from him.

The girl could not be allowed to mess up his plans.

**A/N:** Just to be clear, suicide is never a good option. Serenity's thought processes were completely off-kilter due to the sedatives she was given, otherwise she'd never have tried such a thing. I've made Mokuba younger than he is in the anime series, so expect childishness, since he's still just a child.

Reviewers:

Sueb262 - Thanks again for the offer.

Sakurelle - I made you squirm? Cool! Any reaction is better than indifference. Loved your story by the way.

Petit Angel - I'm continuing as requested. Thanks for the review.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-gi-oh plot or characters.

A/N: Thanks to Sakurelle, Petit Angel, Kasifya, and Sueb262 for reviewing!

CHAPTER FOUR

Morning came eventually. Serenity must have slept off and on, because she was definitely asleep when she heard the alarm clock go off and felt Mokuba wake up and slip out of the bed. He shut off the alarm, and yawned with his arms in the air, then rubbed his eyes. His curly hair was sticking out all over. He bent and picked up the sword.

"Uh oh. I forgot to put Excalibur away. Seto gets mad when I leave things on the floor."

"How mad? What does he do when he's mad?" Did Seto Kaiba abuse his brother? Serenity was working herself up to a rage when Mokuba deflated it.

"Oh, he just stands there and waits until I pick it up before he lets me do anything else." Mokuba shrugged. "I have to use the bathroom." he announced, dropped the sword and disappeared through the door to the left of the writing desk.

Serenity sat up in bed, and moved her left shoulder experimentally. It hurt, as did, to a lesser extent, the cuts on her knees. She looked at her hands. They'd made it through with barely a scratch, only some minor surface cuts. From the bathroom, between the toilet flushing and the faucet going, she could hear Mokuba humming. He was such a happy child. How could the same womb have produced a Mokuba and a Seto? Serenity pulled absently at the ruined sleeve of her nightshirt. She supposed she could sew it up, but would it catch on the stitches if she did? And besides, the blood on it was pretty gross.

Mokuba came out of the bathroom, the ends of his bangs dripping from where he'd managed to get them in the water while washing his face, and grinned. "Your turn!" He announced.

"Mokuba, does your bathroom door have a lock on it?" Serenity asked hopefully.

He crinkled his nose. "Yeah, I think it's on the doorknob, but I won't come in while you're there. I promise."

Serenity smiled. "I might be in there a long time, and you might forget I'm in there. Or someone else could come in and not know I was in there."

Mokuba thought that over. "OK" He shrugged, obviously thinking girls were weird.

Serenity got up. "Can I borrow your shower and hair dryer?"

"Sure" Mokuba found the sword again and was eviscerating an invisible dragon.

With a shower, which she took without a plastic covering (who cared if the wound got wet if she wasn't going to be around long enough for it to heal?), blow-dried hair, and a towel wrapped around her, Serenity felt almost human again. She looked at her bloody T-shirt draped across the toilet and couldn't bear the thought of putting it on again.

"Mokuba?" she grabbed the towel firmly at her breast to make sure it wasn't coming undone, and popped her head cautiously out the door. He was dressed now in jeans, tennis shoes and what looked like a long sleeved rugby style shirt, sitting at the writing desk. When he heard her voice he got off the chair and came over to her.

"Um, do you have anything I could borrow to wear?" As she said it she realized how dumb the question was. Mokuba was a tiny kid. He thought hard about the problem, then his eyes lit up.

"Wait there!" He disappeared into his closet and came out with a dusty box which he opened on the floor to reveal an old football jersey, extra large, and faded, which he brought out with a flourish. "It was my dad's. It used to be my blanket until I outgrew it. Here!"

Serenity was touched. "I'll take it under one condition, that you get me some gauze or something to cover my stitches. I wouldn't want to get blood on it."

"OK" Mokuba ran to the door and was out before she could say another word. As the door closed, she saw the guard outside, still at his post. Serenity retreated to the bathroom. 20 minutes later, after Mokuba had deposited large gobs of polysporan on her wound and covered the area securely if a bit lopsidedly with gauze and tape, she was being pulled down the hall by a determined Mokuba. The football jersey draped generously over her, and it was only a little shorter than the nightshirts she'd been wearing the night before. The guard followed them silently.

In the doorway to the kitchen Serenity stopped cold. Seto was sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee and reading the Wall Street Journal as a small Hispanic man bustled around the kitchen, cooking. Mokuba let go of her hand and ran to give his brother a bear hug around the waist. "Seto! Look who I found! A lady."

Seto's eyes flicked over the jersey and came to rest on Serenity's face. "So I see. Ricardo?" He called to the Hispanic chef. "Another place-setting at the table please."

"I was thinking…" Seto looked down at Mokuba's upturned face. "Since we have a visitor and all, maybe I should skip school today?"

"Mr. Peterkins will be here at 8:00 as usual, and I want you to be ready for him," said Seto.

"Aw Seto."

"Eat your breakfast." Seto reached over his brother's head and pulled out a chair.

Mokuba sighed, but walked over and sat down at his place. Ricardo moved to pour orange juice, and quickly set out another placemat and place setting at the space next to Mokuba's.

"Can she stay with us Seto? Please?" Mokuba asked his brother.

Seto's face took on what Serenity saw as a sardonic, amused expression. "Oh I insist that Miss Wheeler stay with us."

"Great!" Completely unaware of the undercurrents, Mokuba grinned at Serenity. "Is that your name? Miss Wheeler?"

"It's Serenity. Call me Serenity." She told him. She'd read somewhere that it was more difficult for kidnappers to kill their victims if they began to think of them as actual people with names and feelings. Somehow she didn't think that would cut any ice with Seto, but it didn't hurt to try. The morning was becoming surreal. The normal family breakfast in the kitchen, the smell of food cooking, Mokuba deliberately slurping his juice and looking slant eyed at his brother to see if he'd noticed. Except for the guard standing at her back, blocking her exit, it could have been any family eating together.

"Well Serenity, sit down and join us." It may have been said in a conversational tone, but the command was clear. Serenity sat.

"Miss, what would you like to have for breakfast?" Ricardo was taking orders. Seto chided Mokuba for slurping and watched to see her answer. "I'll have whatever Mokuba's having." If Seto had told the cook to slip a drug in her food he'd have a difficult time of it if he was cooking for Mokuba at the same time.

"Coffee?" Serenity saw that the pitcher of orange juice he'd poured for Mokuba was still on the table.

"Juice is fine," she answered and she watched Ricardo carefully as he poured it, then followed him with her eyes over to the stove. It looked like she was going to have pancakes.

"He won't let you help cook" Mokuba stage whispered at her. "I ask all the time but he always says no."

"Children and stoves and ovens do not mix." Ricardo threw over his shoulder as he poured another round of batter on the griddle.

Judging by the plate in front of Seto, empty of everything except crumbs, Seto had already eaten; still he stayed at the table and talked to Mokuba until he was done. Serenity, though hungry, picked at the pancakes, only managing to eat one of the three Ricardo placed in front of her. Her stomach was tied in knots as she waited to see what would happen when breakfast was over and Mokuba went off to school.

The doorbell rang, and Mokuba got up. "Mr. Peterkins is here."

"Go to the school room and wait for him."

"School room?" Serenity repeated involuntarily.

Mokuba grinned at her. "I have school here. Mr. Peterkins comes _every day_. Well, except weekends." He said, and ran off.

Leaning back in her chair, Serenity tried to figure out what that meant for her. Would Seto take her someplace else to torture her? But he'd told Mokuba he meant for her to stay here. Glancing up, she saw Seto watching her, obviously enjoying her discomfort. She crossed her arms over her chest and stuck her chin out, challenging him.

With what sounded suspiciously like a snort, he got up, laid the Wall Street Journal down on the table and began to walk out. "Dan, keep Miss Wheeler here until Angus comes in to take over." He said, and left.

"Where's he going?" Serenity hated how querulous her voice sounded.

"To the office, of course, Miss." Ricardo answered, sounding surprised that she didn't know. He started to say something else, but when the guard, Dan, cleared his throat warningly, he subsided, and went back to clearing up the dishes. Serenity stayed at the table, working herself into a nervous wreck. By the time the sandy red haired man from her apartment last night entered the room she was ready to jump out of her skin.

With a quick glance around Angus nodded at the guard. "Bring her."

Serenity found herself hustled firmly out of the kitchen and pushed down the hallway to a longish unfamiliar corridor, and into a room that appeared to be a small, impersonal office with a desk, and a grouping of small chairs in front of it. The tall man preceded her into the room, pulled two of the chairs away and gestured for her to sit in the remaining one. The guard pushed her forward when she was slow to respond.

I won't scream. I won't cry. I won't talk no matter what. The litany ran over and over through her head as the red headed man proceeded to bark questions about Joey and his discovery at her. He alternated between whispering and yelling. Sometimes he'd lean right into her face, causing her to flinch back, but the expected abuse never came. He never touched her. She kept waiting for it, but he never so much as slapped her. The other guard remained in the room the whole time, sitting quietly in one of the spare chairs as he watched the other man work.

After a while, Serenity realized that she wasn't going to be tortured. She didn't say a word. Watching all those spy shows and reading all those murder mysteries really paid off. She know that once a suspect began talking it was all over, so she bit her lip and never answered no matter how insulting or outrageous he got. It seemed like hours passed until finally the man stopped, straightened and turned to look at the door. A moment later Serenity heard Mokuba's voice calling her name, and doors opening then closing down the corridor. Then Mokuba stuck his head in the door.

"Oh, there you are. Hi Angus. Hi Dan. It's time for lunch."

"We're a little busy here, Mokuba." The red haired man stepped to block him as the child tried to dodge past him. Stymied, Mokuba tilted his head back to look up into Angus' face

"But you've got to have lunch sometime, and Mr. Peterkins only gives me half an hour!"

A phone shrilled in Angus' pocket. He whipped it out, listened for a minute, face coldly expressionless, then said, "Yes, I'll go now." And put it back. He motioned to the guard, Dan, "Take her back to the kitchen for lunch. Watch her."

He placed his hand on Mokuba's head, rumpling his hair, making it sound like the last command was for him, though his eyes were on the guard as he said it.

Mokuba rolled his eyes, grabbed Serenity's hand and pulled her down the hallway to the kitchen. And just like that, the interrogation was over.

o-o-o

Seto leaned back in his leather chair in the executive suite of his office building downtown and templed his fingers. He'd spent a very productive morning; speed working, as he liked to call it. He could make his mind work at a frenetic pace when he wanted to, letting instincts take over when it came to decisions.

The reason he was able to do so was the quality of his employees. Seto made sure that they were all competent, but more importantly that they were 100 committed and loyal to him. No longer did he blindly trust the workers who had come with the company when his father's death forced him to take over the reins early, much too early. He'd been so naïve when he started, full of the fairy tale business ethics and philosophy his college professors were intently stuffing into him. Now he made sure he'd tried and tested all those remaining old guard employees, and put each new employee through rigorous tests before hiring them. Angus had streamlined the process for him, making concrete protocols out of his desired outcomes. Angus was a godsend. If it hadn't been for him, this situation with the girl would be a mess.

Angus had cobbled together a false voice message using recordings from the phone tap as Seto watched, fascinated by the technical expertise of his security team. It took most of the night, and Seto had given up and gone home before the long process was complete. He'd also missed the Scotsman's efforts to find a shill, an out of work actress willing to take Serenity Wheeler's ID and suitcase on a flight to L.A. the next morning. The suitcase was now in a storage locker at LAX and the actress, using her own name this time, had booked a flight back after a week's vacation in L.A. paid for by Seto. Assuming anyone at Serenity Wheeler's work bothered to check out her phone message, the trail would lead to L.A.

Seto remembered getting the phone call in the sound studio last night, and hearing about Serenity's suicide attempt. He wasn't usually a profane man, but when he heard about his brother's part in the fiasco he'd sworn then. He should have put her in the office area of his penthouse. Instead he'd gone soft and placed her in one of the guestrooms a few doors down from Mokuba, thinking that the sedative Angus had injected in her would last all the way until morning. It hadn't, and she'd tried to throw herself from the window.

Mokuba had heard the glass breaking and ran in past the guard he'd posted down the hall, who'd just got the door's keypad unlocked. From what Angus said, Mokuba accidentally elbowed the guard in his haste to see what was breaking the glass. Mokuba was so short that his raised elbow was at groin level. That was why he'd been able to reach the girl first. According to the guard's report, Mokuba pulled the girl away from the window just in time.

Seto's heart went cold at the thought of Mokuba falling down to the pavement, dragged down by that…he stopped, and forced himself to take a deep breath. There was time enough to deal with Serenity Wheeler later. The tournament wasn't for another week and a half. It would be interesting to see if Angus got anything out of her. He glanced at the phone, then his watch. Even with traffic, Angus should be here any minute. He'd got a call that one of Angus' men had located Larson in a flophouse, high on drugs and looking to be about ready to die of an overdose. When Seto realized that Wheeler paid Larson off for the gamechip he knew the man would use the money to buy drugs and was probably on his way to chemical nirvana. It took precious days to track down the rumors of whom Larson had or hadn't talked to about the one gamechip left from his theft of the Minoan excavations.

It would have to be Joey Wheeler who turned out to be the one in possession of the chip, Joey who was so methodical, so mathematical in his strategies. He was known as the player who never cracked, a perfect, poker-faced game master. He was a very worthy opponent, and in their tournaments together Seto never fully figured out Joey's strategy.

Now Joey was dead, and his sister was probably the only person left in the world with the missing piece of the puzzle, for Seto had come to realize that the Minoan game was more than just a game. There were indications that others had come to the same conclusion, and Seto was willing to risk everything to beat them to the punch. He glanced down at the paperwork on his desk. He was done with corporate business for the day. Shoving his desk chair over to one side of the desk, he accessed the encrypted program on his laptop that was running the diagnostics on the gamechips he'd acquired so far. Adding the silver one he'd taken from Serenity Wheeler was causing the computer to work overtime finding the vital patterns, but there was still missing pieces. That there were patterns, patterns unrelated to the slick strategies needed to win tournaments was unarguable, but what did they mean? Seto now knew more than he ever wanted to about the Minoans, including the theory that they'd been descendants of the legendary race of people known as Atlanteans, a theory heartily scorned by current historical scholarship.

Angus Kaiba walked in on cat's feet. "Larson's dead." He stated baldly.

"How?"

"The hospital's calling it overdose related complications."

"But you don't think so."

"No. My man at the hospital saw several hospital staffers going in and out of the room, but had no way of knowing which if any belonged there. I say it's too convenient."

Seto nodded. "Agreed. Try to get the body. We'll have it autopsied."

"It'll be expensive." Angus warned.

"Perhaps" Seto grinned inwardly. Angus may be a top-notch security chief, but he was still Scottish to the core when it came to spending money. "Still, it's better to know for sure what we're up against."

Angus nodded to the laptop computer, humming away on the desk. "Has yon gizmo come up with anything yet?" Angus, an expert on all security related technology pretended disdain for things mechanical, maintaining that it was a man's eyes and brain that made the real difference in the field. The CIA couldn't be more cutthroat than the world of industrial espionage at times.

"No, did you find out anything from the Wheeler girl?" Seto neatly turned the question around.

Angus frowned. "No. She wouldna' talk at all."

"Hmm." Seto digested that. "Determined is she?"

"Terrified more like. If I'd wanted to play by rules and regulations, I could have joined the coppers." Angus met Seto's eyes. "It wouldn't take much to break her if ye'd let me."

"No!" Seto regulated his voice. "Until I know how deeply she's involved in this…conspiracy, I won't cross that line."

"Is that remorse I hear laddie?"

"Not at all. Mokuba's decided she's his pet project. He grows on people. Perhaps we can use that later if we give it a chance to develop."

Angus gave a bark of laughter. "I should have known you had a plan. Wheels within wheels, that's you m'lad."

Seto merely smiled.

o-o-o

Angus hadn't returned by the time lunch was over. Mokuba had persuaded Dan, the guard watching her, to let Serenity sit in on his tutoring session. In the schoolroom, which was located at the other end of the penthouse, Serenity sat self-consciously at an empty desk (there were three) while a highly disapproving Mr. Peterkins gave his history/literature lesson on the renaissance. Between pulling the jersey down over her knees every five minutes and concentrating on listening quietly and politely, without letting Mokuba be distracted by her presence, Serenity was busy not giving the teacher any more reason to dislike her presence. She had to admit he knew what he was doing, challenging Mokuba to ask intelligent questions, and reason out his responses. However, when the lesson turned to renaissance music, and Peterkins put on a CD of Pachelbel's cannon, all Mokuba did was give monosyllabic replies and roll his eyes as soon as the music began playing. Peterkins cut that part of the lesson short.

Soon after that lessons were over for the day. Mokuba pulled her into the playroom and tried to teach her the Minoan game.

"Oh Mokuba, I've tried to play this game before in college. I'm no good at it." When word got around that she was Joey Wheeler's sister, lots of guys tried to challenge her to play. Since she knew she wasn't nearly as good as her brother, Serenity always declined.

"That's why you have to _practice, _Serenity! No one's good when they first start."

So Serenity sat on a very comfortable sofa upholstered in what felt like a soft chenille bedspread, with the child's plastic version of the Minoan gameboard and gamechips spread between them. She played the game with Mokuba, who beat her soundly nine games out of ten. He had an endless fascination for the game. He also had a tendency to bite the tip of his tongue when he was concentrating that she found completely endearing. After the game playing was over, she watched a video with Mokuba, some ultra fantastic tale loosely based on the King Arthur story. Mokuba, who'd obviously seen it many times before, was delighted.

What was she doing here? How had she got so comfortable with this child, the brother of her enemy? Dinnertime came as a relief, until she saw that Seto was there. The food was served in an actual dining room, and Serenity was reassured when all three of them were served from the same soup tureen and serving dishes. She kept quiet, and let Mokuba talk about his day, noticing that he kindly refrained from calling her hopeless when he described how he'd beaten her at the Minoan game. Seto pretty much ignored her throughout dinner, until Mokuba brought up the game. Then he'd stared at her for a long time.

"So she lost to you, did she? Interesting."

Serenity felt a blush rising. Did he think she faked losing? Why would she? "There are other things in life besides playing the Minoan game." She bit out.

"There are indeed Miss Wheeler."

Why was Seto looking at her so intently? Serenity became very interested in her dessert, strawberries and with a crème anglaise sauce.

Eventually, Mokuba was sent to brush his teeth and get ready for bed. The Kaibas ate late. Serenity rose from her seat to go with the boy, only to be told to stay when Mokuba was sent to his room. All her fears came rushing back. She hadn't exactly been cooperative that morning. How would Seto retaliate?

Seto got up from his chair and came around to stand behind her. She would NOT give him the satisfaction of twisting around to look at him, she decided, sitting stalk still, back rigidly straight. She left her hands on the tablecloth, clutching her dessertspoon. The ache in her shoulder wound, forgotten for a time, came throbbing back.

"We need to have a little chat, Miss Wheeler."

"What about?" Serenity was glad to hear that her voice didn't shake as much as she was shaking inside.

"You know what I want. Information. Information that your brother entrusted to you."

"Never."

She felt his breath brush the top of her head. Sighing in exasperation?

"Are you planning to stab me with that?"

"What? Oh!" Serenity dropped the spoon she'd been gripping so hard that it was about to bend, feeling like a scolded child. It was time to attack.

"You'll never get away with this, you know." She said conversationally. "You can't just kidnap a person and expect no one to notice."

"And who exactly would notice? Your boss thinks you were called away suddenly to L.A. on family business."

Did the man think of everything? Serenity remembered hearing him say that he was going to cobble together a message for her boss's machine when he'd taken her from her apartment. She remembered too, being wrestled by him and bound. She cringed a little. He was so strong and so fast. Those self-defense classes in college hadn't helped her a bit. Why hadn't she kept them up? She lived in New York, after all. The only thing keeping her alive was Mokuba's presence. If he hadn't found her she'd probably be dead by now. Mokuba seemed to be the man's only soft spot.

"Besides," Seto's silky voice continued, "if I know that Joey had the gamechip and the information, so do others. How long do you think you'd last if I let you loose? The international tournament is in little over a week."

The tournament? Thought Serenity incredulously. This was all about winning that stupid tournament? True the grand prize was reputed to be a million dollars this year, but Kaiba was a multi-millionaire. What did he need with more money? If he thought the information she had would just help him win a stupid game, maybe he didn't know how important it was. Serenity decided to test her theory.

"You think what I know will help you win the game?" She put as much disbelief in her voice as she could.

Her chair was swung around forcibly, and Seto Kaiba was in her face, trapping her by placing his hands on the armrests. "Not just a game, THE game. The Tokyo tournament determines who will be the champion of the most challenging, mentally demanding game in the world."

"Then I hope you lose!"

Kaiba's eyes narrowed to slits, and Serenity flinched, convinced she'd gone too far, but he just laughed shortly and stepped away. "Tell me what you know, and after the tournament, I'll let you go."

Like that was going to happen. What was he going to do? Let her go to tell the press that he'd kidnapped her? How stupid did she think she was? Very stupid, apparently, but she decided to play along.

"Let me go now, and I won't tell the police what you've done."

"Exactly what have I done? Even if you could prove you'd been here, you're a family friend deranged with grief over your brother's death. You have to be watched to prevent another suicide attempt," he said flatly.

Serenity felt her eyes welling up. That creep! Using her brother's death, Joey's murder against her. She found herself on her feet, yelling. "How dare you? Leave my brother out of this you murderer!"

And there he was, in her face again, a breath away, eyes like flint. "If you're so convinced that I killed your brother, what makes you think I'll spare you if you don't talk?"

Her legs went out, and Serenity found herself back on the chair. She'd pushed him too far; reminding him that he was capable of murder was a huge mistake. Forcing herself to hold his gaze she said, "Then kill me if you're going to, because I will never tell you anything."

Seto stared back at her coldly. "There's plenty of time before the tournament for you to reconsider," he told her, and with that parting shot, he left.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh plot or characters.

A/N: The nineteenth century composer, Chopin, will be mentioned in this chapter along with Jazz great Billie Holiday. If you have never listened to their music, you may wonder why their melodies affect the characters as much as they do. You don't need to know about them to understand the chapter, but seriously, go and listen to their music – it's worth it!

Thanks to my reviewers:

Kasifya – I love Mokuba too, though I've made him a bit younger than he is in the series.

XXRoseGoddess874Xx – Thanks for the review, and I read your story, Crazy Beautiful, and liked it a bunch.

Sakurelle – always great to hear from you! I'm glad you're liking the story, though it's mostly character development this chapter and only a tiny bit of action.

CHAPTER FIVE

When she got to Mokuba's room Serenity found that another mattress had been set on the floor by the twin bed, and there was Mokuba, in happy face pajamas this time, jumping up and down on the mattress.

"Oh! Hi! I'm not supposed to jump on the bed, but this one's on the floor."

Alarmed at the thought of Mokuba, especially his head, overbalancing and hitting the edge of the bedside table, Serenity quickly got him to sit down by promising to read him a story. It turned out to be a child's version of Le Morte D'Arte, After only one chapter, she got him to get under the covers of the mattress on the floor. He'd gravely insisted that ladies had to take the nicer beds because that was chivalrous. She'd agreed, glad of anything to take her mind off that disastrous conversation with his brother. After quickly using the bathroom – and missing her facial cleanser and moisturizers more than she ever thought possible – she got into the twin bed and turned out the light. A few minutes later, Mokuba spoke.

"Serenity?"

"Yes?"

"Why did you try to jump out the window?"

"I…" How to answer a question like that? She wasn't quite sure herself. It wasn't like her to give up that readily. She'd managed to complete her Master's degree when she'd felt like giving up countless times. Was it that drug they'd given her, messing with her mind? But if she blamed it on the drugs she'd sound like an addict, and somehow she just couldn't let Mokuba know his brother had given her a sedative that drove her bonkers. "I guess I was just very sad, and I wasn't thinking straight."

"Why were you sad?"

Serenity sighed, "Because I promised my brother I'd do something for him, and I failed."

She heard Mokuba roll over, and sensed him trying to see her in the dark. "But he'll forgive you! Can't you just call him and ask him?"

"No, I can't call him." It hit her again. She'd really never hear Joey's voice again. He'd never blow into town and take her out to a long lunch, smoothing it over with her boss in his own inimitable way.

"Why not?

"He's…dead." I will not let this child hear me cry, Serenity promised herself.

A small Mokuba sized cannonball hit her in the midsection, and wrapped its arms around her.

"Then I'll be your honorary brother, and I forgive you. Whatever it was, I forgive you."

With that, Serenity broke her promise and started to cry, Mokuba hugging her and patting her shoulder until she reminded him about the wound, which reminded him they hadn't put polysporan on it, so he dragged her out of bed and into the bathroom, cleaned, anointed, and re-covered the wound. Somehow in the midst of it, Serenity stopped crying and decided that for as long as she was in Seto Kaiba's clutches, she would care for this remarkable child like he was her own.

o-o-o

The days passed, one after another. Serenity stayed out of Seto's way as much as possible. She watched him like a hawk, almost hoping to see some sign of irritation or cruelty toward his brother so she could dismiss the one quality about him she admired, but he was unfailingly patient and interested in Mokuba. It was clear that Mokuba adored his older brother, who was more of a father to him than a sibling, but there was a closeness there that was rare even for a devoted father and son.

She wanted to ask someone about it, the servants, Ricardo and the two middle-aged housemaids that came every day to clean, or even the guards, but Seto's words about her being "deranged with grief" stopped her. With no idea what they had or hadn't been told about her, she kept quiet. If they already thought her insane, they'd probably been told to report anything she said to them to Seto. They'd likely think they were doing her a favor, monitoring her for suicidal tendencies.

She also kept completely silent in the classroom, earning Peterkin's grudging tolerance, if not his approval. Still, she couldn't really expect the proper, cultured old English gentleman to like having a football jersey clad bimbo in his classroom. She rather enjoyed the lessons actually, but it grieved her that her favorite subject, music, was Mokuba's least favorite. One day after a presentation on baroque music, she asked him why he disliked it so much.

"It's boring!" said Mokuba. "It's all tinkly like elevator music when you go to the dentist."

"Well, do you like rock music instead?"

"No, Seto won't let me listen to rock music. He says music today is execrable" Mokuba pronounced the last word proudly, obviously having practiced. "Do you know what word execrable comes from?" His eyes lit up mischievously.

"Yes, I already know, but what music can you listen to that Seto approves of?"

Mokuba shrugged. "Seto listens to jazz and classical stuff, but it's so boring."

Serenity flexed her left shoulder. It had started itching lately, but it didn't hurt as bad as before. She made up her mind.

"Mokuba, come with me, I want to show you something about music."

Taking his hand, she led him to the main living area, a sea of coffee tables, artistic "groupings" of chairs and sofas with a huge gas fireplace to one side, and a grand piano on the other. She'd played from grade school up through college, dropping piano as her economics classes began to demand all of her time and attention. After college the tiny apartment she could afford didn't have room for a piano, though Joey had offered to buy her one. She could play by ear, and had an excellent memory for music.

Chopin. Definitely Chopin she decided, and told Mokuba to park his rear on the piano seat.

Gingerly, he touched one of the keys. "Mom used to play the piano."

"Was this hers?" Serenity wondered if she was trespassing on a memory.

"I guess." Mokuba shrugged. "What did you want to show me?"

"You like math don't you?"

"Yeah" answered Mokuba doubtfully. "What does that have to do with music?"

"Well, musical notes are like numbers in a code, and you have to decode them to tell what they are saying, to see what they sound like, and when you do you can find the story within."

"The story within what?" Mokuba crinkled his nose and cocked his head.

"In the music. Now close your eyes and I want you to imagine a bumblebee on a mission, a very important mission for the queen bee and see where he goes."

Serenity waited to see that Mokuba had his eyes closed, closed her own briefly with a prayer that it would come back to her, and launched into Chopin's fantasy impromptu.

Mokuba giggled.

"Do you see the bee?"

"Yes!"

"OK, now what's he doing?"

"He's flying around! Oops! He flew into a flower!"

And with Serenity's encouragement, Mokuba concocted a rather improbable story about the bee's adventures. After that they decided that Chopin's Polonaise in A flat Major was about a prissy little army horse on maneuvers, showing off for the other horses.

Then Serenity went in for the kill. "Would you like to learn how to make stories using the piano?"

Mokuba's eyes got big. "Could I?"

"Sure. If you just remember that notes are really like coded numbers, you can learn to read music, then you can play anything that's written down. You'll have cracked the code. It may take some time, like learning to play the Minoan game, but I think you can do it."

And that is how their first piano lesson began. Serenity started him off on chopsticks and then to heart and soul, and by then it was time for dinner.

The only problem was, how to get a child's piano book. She searched all through the music stored in the piano seat, but couldn't find anything suitable. She'd have to ask Seto.

It galled. She hadn't asked him for anything, not a scrap of clothing (she knew he undoubtedly loved the idea of keeping her in the football jersey, as it kept her from running away. She didn't even want to think about her chances of survival on the streets of New York clad only in her underwear and a jersey that only came to mid thigh) or even moisturizer, which she was beginning to realize was absolutely essential to a woman's peace of mind about her face.

At dinner she let the boy prattle on about school and the piano to Seto, but when dinner was over, instead of going with him to his room, she stayed behind. She didn't realize when Mokuba had been talking about the piano or that Seto had been watching her the whole time. At dinner she kept her eyes on her plate and stole surreptitious glances at Seto when she knew his attention was on Mokuba. And some nights she let her mind wander.

"I need a child's piano book for Mokuba" she said bluntly, as soon as the child left the room.

Seto regarded her silently for a moment. "And why should I give you one?"

"Do you want him to learn piano or not?"

"Evidently you do." Seto leaned back in the chair, a high wing-backed affair, so his face was in shadows. "What will you give me for it?"

Serenity stood. "Forget it." She snapped. "I won't tell you my brother's secret for a lousy piano book."

"How can you be sure that's what I wanted?"

Serenity felt stupid asking but, "What else could you possibly want?"

A pause, then, "Ricardo tells me you were playing Chopin for Mokuba this afternoon."

"Yes." Where was he going with this?

"I want the etude in E Major."

"What?"

"Play that for me, and I'll get you your child's piano book."

Was this some kind of trick? "What's the catch?"

A low laugh came from the chair. "If you don't play it well enough, you don't get the book."

Hah! Serenity knew the etude like the back of her hand. It was one of her favorites. This would be a piece of cake.

"Fine! Let's get this over with." She did a smart about face and stalked her way into the living area, her guard, Dan again, jogging after her while Seto followed more leisurely.

The notes flowed throughout the room. Seto had paid a professional to situate the piano so that the acoustics would be perfect. He'd kept it tuned and oiled out of deference to his mother, who'd loved that piano, but he hadn't heard it played except at business dinner parties, which he gave as rarely as he could. At those functions he hired professionals to play low-key background music. Not like this. Serenity put a sweetness, a passion into the etude that he hadn't heard in years. At the side of the piano he watched her play. Most of the time she kept her eyes on the keys, but there were moments when her eyes closed to slits as she felt the music pouring through her, in the way only someone who really loved music can.

Angus had been hounding him for a decision about her. He thought just the threat of physical harm would be enough to make her talk. Seto was no longer sure he even needed her information. He was willing to give the computer program more time to use the symbols on Joey's game chip to discover the secret behind the game. Barring that, it meant going to Greece, to breach the reclusive Niko Andromachus's defenses and see if he couldn't find a clue there. Niko had been the one to take the Minoan relics and make them into a board game with rules. There must have been something he saw there that he hadn't told anyone. People liked secrets, like Serenity's hidden talent for the piano. She was playing the piece sublimely, without hesitation, and without the music in front of her.

When it was done she sat still at the keyboard, her head bowed reverently, as was fitting for a Chopin piece.

"You can have your music," Seto said abruptly and left.

o-o-o

It was just music. Anyone halfway competent could play Chopin. She wasn't even a virtuoso. She was just…competent. Seto kept telling himself that as he exited the apartment and took the private elevator down to the car. He'd have to drive himself back to the office, as he'd dismissed his driver for the day. That was fine with him. He enjoyed driving when there wasn't any traffic, and it was late enough now that the gridlock should be completely gone.

Soon he was on the road, and alone with his thoughts. They turned, as they often did, to the girl. Eventually he'd have to decide what to do with her. Keeping her a prisoner in the apartment was a temporary measure at best. He couldn't get rid of her until he knew what she did. Silently he cursed Joey Wheeler for putting him in this position.

Even the incredibly powerful computers of Kaiba International couldn't seem to decipher the patterns despite having the silver game chip's markings. There really had to be some other bit of information, and Seto was afraid the only way to get it was through the girl. Joey must have known something or learned something from that junkie, Larson. Larson had been on the same dig as the legendary Niko Andromachus – inventor of the Minoan game. Perhaps he'd seen something during the excavation that he hadn't told anyone about before. Larson and Joey Wheeler were roommates for a time in college. Perhaps they'd been closer confidants than anyone knew. After all, Larson sold the gamechip to Joey even though he'd tried to offer it first to Seto, and anyone would have to be insane or very committed to cross the CEO and owner of Kaiba International.

Seto didn't indulge in false modesty. He knew his own reputation as a ruthless businessman, but junkies were notoriously unreliable. Kaiba knew that Larson may also have offered the chip to lots of other people. At least some of those other people were hunting for the same prize he was.

"The power to rule over the earth." Seto repeated the words softly.

That was the engraving on a fragment of gameboard found in the Minoan ruins. It had only been translated fairly recently, but the article in the archeological quarterly sent a shock wave through Seto. The Minoan game was his obsession. He'd already been playing it pretty seriously before his parents died, but after they were gone, he'd spent every spare moment developing his skill. He'd even taught Mokuba to play when he was old enough to hold game chips, as a way to spend time with him. The more he'd played the game, the more he sensed that it was designed to hone skills, very particular mathematical and strategic skills. There had to be a reason why the Minoans played, apart from enjoyment. The engraving had been his epiphany. He didn't know exactly how the ancient civilization had used the game to increase their power, but he'd read the histories and learned that they'd been on their way to being the most powerful trade nation in the Mediterranean when they'd suddenly fallen.

Power was everything. If you had power, you could do whatever you wanted and get away with it, but more importantly you could keep people from hurting you and those you loved. No one would ever hurt Mokuba if Seto had anything to say about it.

A sudden flash of light made Seto glance to the right just as his front tire blew.

Things happened very fast after that. The car swerved immediately toward a light-pole on the sidewalk. Seto had just accelerated to make a yellow light when the tire blew, and all the extra speed was not helping. He jammed on the breaks and hauled the steering wheel to the left, shrieking the car into a dangerous u-turn, and leaving him in the oncoming traffic lanes facing the opposite direction he'd been heading in.

The only thing that saved him from bashing into cars in the oncoming traffic was the fact that the light had turned red, so no cars had been advancing at the time. Now his car was faced in the correct direction for the lane he'd ended up in, but people turning right into those lanes at the intersection were bound to hit him if he sat there at a dead stop.

His heart still racing from reaction, Seto took his foot off the brake and hit the accelerator, not caring that his tire was flapping ominously on the pavement. As his car began to move, and other cars started joining him, he heard another car peel rubber. In his rearview mirror he saw a dark blue four door sedan on the side of the street he'd recently been in, zip right around the corner.

"I've got to get back to Mokuba," thought Seto. Ignoring the flat tire, he drove home as fast as he could; jumped out the minute he got to the parking garage, and threw the keys at the startled guard posted there.

"Check the tire, I think it's been shot," he yelled, and headed to the penthouse to go check on his brother. Anyone crazy enough to try to cause a fatal traffic accident with innocent civilians around would have no qualms about going after a little boy. Seto had to be sure Mokuba was safe.

o-o-o

Serenity sat at the piano a long time after Kaiba left, trying to sort out how she felt about what amounted to singing for her supper, or playing for a piano book. She let her fingers touch the keys again. What had Mokuba said about Seto's taste in music? Jazz and classical stuff? She picked out the notes of a classic old Billie Holliday song, then stopped and blushed when she remembered the lyrics were about a woman mourning a lost lover.

What was she doing? Why was she still here? She rested her right forearm against the music shelf of the piano and leaned her forehead against it, staring down at the keys. She should be trying to escape. She should be doing something, anything but tamely letting herself fall into the Kaiba's routine. The problem was, she was growing used to it, and it was so much easier to just go with the flow and act as if it were natural for her to be living in a penthouse apartment with a multi-millionaire and his little brother.

The alternative was what? Walk around crying or screaming all day long? She stole a peek under her arm, and caught sight of the guard, Dan, stationed by the doorway. She was never alone or unguarded. The gilded cage was still very much a cage.

Dan straightened, and stood almost at attention as another man entered the room. Serenity raised her head. It was the older Scotsman, Angus. He saw her, greeted Dan curtly, and started walking towards her. For some reason, Serenity felt a chill coming over her. The last time she'd been this alone with Angus, he'd been yelling at her, trying to get her to talk.

When he was about halfway across the room, his cellphone rang.

"Angus here." He'd stopped to answer it. Whatever he'd learned evidently didn't please him. His face tightened.

"Understood." He said, and clicked the phone shut. Then he turned around and started walking back the way he'd come.

"Angus?" Seto Kaiba nearly collided with the Scotsman as he came into the room. "What are you doing here?"

"You changed the meeting to here, remember, lad?"

Seto stared. "I never changed the meeting. I was on my way to the office when someone shot my tire out."

"Murphy left a message on my phone that you'd changed it."

"Where is Murphy?"

"I'll go find out." Angus left the room at a jog.

"Is Mokuba…?" Seto called after him.

"He's in his room." Dan answered, since Angus was already out of hearing range.

Seto started walking toward a sideboard with a crystal decanter on it, then noticed Serenity and stopped. For a moment he just stared. Serenity didn't know what to say. "Sorry someone shot at you," didn't seem right. Besides, he'd kidnapped her. She wasn't supposed to be sorry someone shot at him.

He shifted his gaze to the decanter, poured a splash of whatever it was in a glass, and started coming toward her again. She began scooting toward the end of the piano bench to flee, but he grabbed her arm, her right, unwounded one fortunately, stopping her. He sat on the bench next to her and released her immediately.

"Play." He commanded.

Serenity looked down at the keyboard. Flustered, she let her fingers pick out the Billie Holliday tune again, and played it softly from start to finish. She'd learned some jazz music in her college piano courses, but hadn't like it much, and focused on classical instead. She was hyper aware of Kaiba sitting next to her, drinking.

Actually he didn't drink much apart from a few sips at the beginning of the song, then he stopped and just listened. When she was done she stayed staring at the keyboard, not daring to move.

Seto got up and moved away. Serenity watched him go. At the doorway, he placed his glass on a side table, and just when she thought he'd completely forgotten about her, he turned, fixed those magnetic eyes of his on her and said, "Thank you." Then he was through the doorway and lost to sight.


	6. Chapter 6

**Note to reviewers:**

Sakurelle – Thanks for reviewing the last chapter! It's nice to have a faithful fan of my story. I read your sequel to Cinder Serenity and loved it!

Bluedragonflyofdestiny – Thanks for reading and reviewing. Not your cup of tea? Is it because it's an AU? I'm not usually a big fan of A Us either, but with the roaring case of writers' block I've got, I've been reduced to posting my earliest story for want of anything better to post.

WolfDaughter – Hi there! It's lovely to hear from you again. I'm glad you're enjoying this even if it isn't my usual RK fare. Don't worry about not having reviewed the earlier chapters, I'm just wildly thrilled that you're reviewing it all. Thanks again!

CHAPTER SIX

"We're going to Japan!"

Each time Mokuba said it, Serenity felt a chill. She had no doubt Mokuba would be going. Seto wasn't the type of man to promise a child something only to snatch it away. The tutor, Mr. Peterkins, was loading on the schoolwork to compensate since he would NOT be going. Serenity summoned the courage to ask him one day why not.

Peterkins sniffed.

"In this household, Miss Wheeler, everything stops for tournaments, including school." And with that he snapped his briefcase shut, and left before she could say another word. It was obviously a sore point with the tutor; however, Serenity could see why that particular decision had been made. Mokuba was so excited just at the prospect of going, that she could imagine once he was at the actual tournament, school work would be the last thing on his mind. Every day in the game room after his schooling was over; Mokuba regaled her with tales about the competitors Seto would be playing.

"There's Bobby Taylor – he's American like us. He just advanced to adult level, but Seto and I think he'll definitely make it to the finals. Then there's Yugi Moto; he's from Sweden. He's half Japanese half Swedish, but he's really short which I guess is rare for Swedish guys since Mr. Peterkins says their ancestors were Vikings and Vikings were really tall and scary! Seto says Yugi has great instincts, but I think my brother has better ones. There's lots of others but they won't make it to the finals."

"Oh they won't?" asked Serenity, amused at Mokuba's air of certainty.

"Nope, they're all lightweights except the top two home team players."

"Home team?" Mokuba made it sound like Minoan game tournaments were like local high school football games.

"Yeah, you know, this year's tournament is in Japan, and the top two Japanese players are Yoshi Takahashi and Kenji Kanazawa. Kenji's nice. I met him before. He's not stuck up or proud like Yoshi. Yoshi's family is almost as rich as we are."

"You're rich?" Serenity asked smilingly. She played dumb, wanting to see how Mokuba felt about his privileged background. So far he hadn't shown any signs of being spoiled despite his rich surroundings.

"Of course, silly. We live in a _penthouse apartment_" Mokuba enunciated the words with glee. "Seto says most people aren't lucky enough to live in the penthouse. But I think it's a pain to be rich, because I can't go out whenever I want and we need guards around all the time in case I get kidnapped again."

Serenity dropped to her knees, and grasped Mokuba by the arms. "You were what!"

Mokuba blinked at her tone. "I was kidnapped," he repeated. "It's OK you know, I was so little I don't really remember it."

"Who…who kidnapped you?"

"Mrs. Miller." Said Mokuba matter-of-factly. "She was my dad's secretary so Seto trusted her, and when she and some bad men wanted to steal dad's company from Seto, she took me away so Seto would have to sign some papers."

"What happened?"

"Seto and Angus were smarter than her. They found me and Seto got to keep dad's company, so now we have to have guards in case anyone ever tries to kidnap me again." Mokuba sighed. "I wish I wasn't so much trouble."

Serenity grabbed Mokuba to her and hugged him fiercely, ignoring the faint tinge of pain from her mostly healed shoulder.

"You're not trouble at all. Seto loves you! That's why he wants to protect you. Whenever you see the guards just remember that."

Mokuba laughed. "I know that. And just think, Seto makes the guards watch you, so he must love you too!"

Serenity released him abruptly in shock, and sat back on her haunches. How to deal with this unwelcome misconception? "Uh, Mokuba, I don't think it's…"

"Seto loves Serenity, Seto loves Serenity," repeated Mokuba in a singsong voice and ran out of the room, leaving her to follow, exasperated, past the guard, a different one than the day before.

The guards were constantly attending her. They stayed right outside the doorways of rooms with one entrance, and came into the room with her and Mokuba if it was a room with another exit. At times she almost forgot they existed. She'd had to remind herself to keep watching to see if they were ever inattentive enough to slip past them to the elevator. She tried to keep watching up until the day that Mokuba let slip that the elevator had a locked keypad as well, one that he, Mokuba, didn't have the combination to. So much for escaping down the elevator.

As she followed the child down the hall to his room, Serenity thought about her situation again. Being constantly with a kid had its advantages. She was often too busy to brood, but now she couldn't help but wonder what would happen with Mokuba when the tournament was over and she disappeared from his life. What excuse would Seto use for her absence after the tournament?

She doubted she'd live to see it anyhow. After all, once Seto knew for certain that she wouldn't talk, he'd have to more use for her. He'd shown a curious reluctance to torture her, but perhaps that would change as he became more and more desperate to win the silly thing. Once he started that, he'd have to kill her to hide the evidence.

She shuddered. While she was still alive and unharmed, he would have to try to convince the police she was nuts when she went to them and accused him of kidnapping, but that was risky at best, and Seto struck her as a man who did his best to eliminate risk. He was careful, fiendish, and complex. Capable of having Joey killed in the process of trying to capture him, and brazen enough to use the killing as a means to discredit her.

"Ye look like ye've the weight of the world on your shoulders, lass."

Startled, Serenity wrenched her eyes off the carpet she'd been studying dully as she'd walked slowly along the corridor. Angus, the security chief, was leaning in a doorway, arms folded, regarding her with interest.

"I could take the weight off y'know."

His eyes were flat, expressionless. She was reminded of paintings of winter seas, steely grey blue. Serenity couldn't help it; she gave a startled squeak, and padded off down the hall after Mokuba.

o-o-o

It had been a very long day at the office. Seto made it a point to be home by 7:30 every night so that he could have dinner with his little brother before his bedtime. However, lately he'd found himself on the road back to the office as soon as Mokuba retired for the night. Making sure he didn't have a backlog of work waiting for him when he returned from the tournament was the main reason why he'd work after hours, but now there was another reason.

The computer diagnostics and decryption programs just weren't working. No matter how many new configurations he and the few members of his executive staff he trusted tried, they still couldn't figure out what the ancient game was really used for.

He glowered abstractedly at the elevator carpet, running number sequences over and over in his mind. It was about 1:00 A.M.

The elevator doors opened, and he nodded to the guard waiting in the foyer. The guard cleared his throat, so Seto paused. He recognized him as one of the new hires since the culling out the old guard who'd turned on him during Miller's attempted coup.

"Mr. Kaiba? I'd like a word if you're not busy."

"It's past your shift, isn't it?" Seto made it a point to know which guards were supposed to be keeping an eye on his brother, and when they were supposed to be doing it.

The guard colored slightly. "Yes, about an hour past."

Seto paused a moment, then said, "Come to my office," and led the way.

Quickly punching in his number code, he noticed that the guard turned away politely so as not to see it. He was a tall man, brown hair and eyed, and utterly nondescript. His hair was neither too long nor too short, his face was pleasant, but unremarkable, and his expression subdued. He'd have been an excellent spy, for he wouldn't stand out in a crowd at all.

Opening the door and rounding the black marble top of the desk his decorator had talked him into, Seto gestured for the guard to sit down, as he dropped into his own chair. The guard shook his head politely.

"I'd prefer to stand, sir" he said, and did so, squarely in front of the desk, back straight, and chin lifted. He was former military after all.

"It's Dan, isn't it? Dan Stuart?" Seto was very good with names, and the more time he spent in someone's company, the more the background knowledge came back to him.

"Yes sir."

"What is this about?" Seto cut to the chase. He was tired, frustrated, and wanted the five or six hours left of the night to sleep.

"I need to know if I should resign."

This was unexpected. When employees wanted to talk to him, assuming they could even get past Angus or his secretary, it was usually to complain about a policy, make a proposal, or ask for a raise.

"And you've come to me because…"

"It's the girl, sir."

"Miss Wheeler is the reason you want to resign?" Seto sighed inwardly. "What has she done now?"

"Not a thing, sir. But if you're planning to eliminate her, I'd like to resign now."

Did everyone in his home besides Mokuba think he was a monster? Seto knew he appeared cold and remote. He'd cultivated that image after he'd had to fight what he thought were trusted friends for control of his family's company. Never again would he appear the friendly, weak young executive. Look where it had nearly gotten him. Still, it was a bit of a wake up call to see how thoroughly his scheme had worked. Even the hired help, to whom he was unfailingly, if stiffly, polite, thought him a remorseless killer.

"What makes you think I'm planning to 'eliminate' her?"

"She thinks you are, sir."

"And she's said so?" If that fool of a girl had dared to share her paranoid theories with Mokuba, he'd…

"No, she hasn't said anything, but I can see it in her eyes. Whenever Mokuba talks about going to Japan, she gets this look." Dan faltered, then went on. "As you know sir, I served queen and country. Before I blew out my knee and had to quit, I went on several missions. Members of my team went on missions they didn't expect to come back from. Whenever we'd be briefed on such a mission, they'd get that look in their eyes. I've been seeing it in hers. She's convinced of it, and she's beginning to convince me. So, should I resign or not?"

"That," said Seto slowly, "Would be premature."

Dan locked eyes with him a moment then nodded. "Sorry to doubt you, sir. You can rely on me for almost anything, but there are some things I will not do, no matter what the salary."

"Go home. And as far as Miss Wheeler is concerned, this conversation never happened."

"That's understood." Dan left, closing the office door softly behind him as he went.

Stuart was a careful man, Seto reflected. As he recalled, he'd overruled Angus to hire him. Seto sat in on as many employee interviews of security staff as possible after the coup. What was it about Dan that Angus had objected to? Sliding the office chair over to his home computer, he pulled up Dan Stuart's records. What exactly was he paying the man? The same as any other bodyguard. Hmm, Dan Stuart was being paid adequately, but not extravagantly.

Seto pulled up his past employment record. Ah yes, here it was. The knee injury. He'd required knee replacement surgery. Seto and Angus had both been impressed with what they'd learned of Stuart's career in her Majesty's service. Angus had pulled in favors and personally called his references. They'd never learned the classified particulars, but all of Dan's superior officers lauded his loyalty, toughness, and bravery. It was the knee injury that Angus harped on. Seto had overruled him, got the man on the company health plan and expedited the surgery. Since then Dan had been exemplary, never late to work, unobtrusive – which Seto required in all his bodyguards, and never overly familiar with Mokuba.

Mokuba was told he was in charge whenever Seto left, and the bodyguards in the house had been trained to humor him, but only up to the point where humoring him constituted a security risk. Mokuba knew his boundaries and rarely tried to step over them, but some guards had had to be reassigned when they began to treat his kid brother with condescension, or tried to be a "pal" to him. Dan had never crossed the line.

Interesting, that he'd risk his job, a position he clearly wanted to keep, to ask about the girl. Unlike Mokuba, Seto didn't believe in chivalry or heroes. Dan would bear watching. As would Serenity.

o-o-o

Serenity sat at the piano. It was afternoon, and Mr. Peterkins had gone home. Seto had unexpectedly shown up, and whisked his brother off on some sort of outing. This had happened once or twice before. The last time it was the weekend, a few days after Serenity had been abducted.

Saturday afternoon, Mokuba and Seto had gone to the zoo, and a movie. When Serenity realized Mokuba was going, leaving her with just the security staff, she'd locked herself in Mokuba's bathroom until they'd returned, not wanting to run across Angus. Sunday they'd left right after breakfast for church and lunch. At the time she'd been amazed Seto could cross the threshold of a church without bursting into flames, though she hadn't said so to Mokuba. As she'd got the blow-by-blow description of both outings by Mokuba, whose powers of observation were phenomenal, she felt she hadn't missed much.

Today was different. Seto had never come home early from work before. She wasn't sure if she should be worried or not, but she decided against locking herself in the bathroom again. Especially since Angus had gone with them. She knew he was just doing his job, but she had a feeling that when Seto finally got tired of letting her live, her execution would be delegated to Angus. He'd probably been the one to botch Joey's attempted kidnapping. He definitely seemed to be in charge. All the other security guards deferred to him.

Her personal guard today was the one called Dan. His shift seemed to be late morning to early evening. She wondered if he minded listening to her play. The music left in the piano seat by Seto and Mokuba's mother was mostly jazz, with some classical thrown in for good measure. She'd played through Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue twice now. The first time had been uncertain, but her skill was coming back the more she played. Mokuba had proved an apt pupil, confident, patient, with a good ear and a natural talent inherited from his mother. She sighed. When she was gone she doubted Seto would find another piano teacher for him. Suddenly restless, she got up and walked to the door.

Dan was leaning against the wall by the doorway. She paused.

"Can I explore?"

He frowned at her, forcing her to explain further.

"I mean, are there areas I'm allowed to be in other than Mokuba's rooms, the kitchen, dining, and living rooms?"

Serenity had been dying to see what lay down the other corridors. It seemed that this apartment sprawled the entire length of the building. She'd wanted to suggest to Mokuba that he give her a tour, but she hadn't wanted to get him in trouble, and with a guard eavesdropping on every conversation, she didn't want it getting back to Seto. She didn't talk to the guards. Even if they believed that she wasn't crazy or suicidal, they undoubtedly already knew she'd been kidnapped and didn't care.

"Follow me."

Dan led the way to the foyer and down an unfamiliar corridor. He had a slight accent. Most of the guards seemed to be Irish or Scottish, like Angus. Dan showed her the workout area, larger than her entire apartment with a sauna and massive bathroom. It was next to Seto's master suite, which Dan didn't show her, though he explained the layout. They also toured the office area, though once again, Seto's personal area was off limits. When he led her past a slew of doors without pausing she asked, "What's in those?"

"Security area."

At that moment, another guard opened a door and came out into the hallway. Dan nodded to him as they walked past, and Serenity caught a glimpse of TV screen monitors with pictures of various parts of the apartment. A horrible thought occurred to Serenity and her steps slowed so that Dan had to stop and wait for her.

"Dan?" She used his first name without thinking about it.

"Yes?"

"Are there security cameras all over the apartment?"

"Yes."

"Are they…?" Her face felt hot. She knew she was blushing, but ploughed ahead anyway. "Are there any in Mokuba's bathroom?" The bathroom was where she took showers, undressed…

"No!" The man's brown eyes were warm with concern, and he leaned down a bit to speak to her. "There are no cameras in any of the bathrooms. I promise." He was staring at her as if willing her to believe him.

Was this guard actually a decent human being? She'd been so used to thinking of them as the enemy, it never occurred to her to wonder what kind of people they were.

"Er, thanks," mumbled Serenity and began walking again. They were headed back to the foyer when the front door opened, and Mokuba, seeing her, came barreling down the hall toward her.

"Serenity! We're back!" He took her hand. "Did you miss us?"

She nodded dutifully, all the response Mokuba seemed to require.

"I can't tell you where we went though, it's a big secret so don't ask me, OK?"

"I won't."

Knowing Mokuba, it probably had to do with the Minoan Game. As they passed Seto, Serenity averted her gaze and asked if Mokuba wanted to play video games, a topic she knew would keep him volubly occupied so she wouldn't have to stop and talk to Seto. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him motion to Dan and speak quietly to him. Dan had to lean down to talk to Seto too, and Serenity was reminded of how tall the guard actually was. Well, he was probably telling Seto that she'd accidentally seen the security room and was asking about cameras. Seto would undoubtedly think she was planning to try to escape.

Serenity was not looking forward to dinner, but surprisingly, Seto made no mention of her exploration, and even allowed her to escape to Mokuba's room unchallenged after dinner was over.

o-o-o

Another day passed.

For all Serenity knew, it was her last on earth, for the Kaiba brothers were leaving tomorrow for Japan so that they would arrive a day before the tournament began. Mokuba confided that his brother got jetlagged, and always wanted a day to recuperate before a big match.

All the staff seemed unusually tense, preoccupied with getting ready for the journey. Seto hadn't lingered at breakfast, though he'd seemed to be watching her more than usual. Dinner was rushed, and Seto sent Mokuba to bed early, reminding him that they were leaving in the morning.

Serenity offered to help Mokuba pack, only to be told that the maid, Amelia, always packed for him.

"Seto thinks I'll forget my underwear if I try to pack for myself again, even though I only forgot one time!"

That evening, Serenity read two stories of King Arthur instead of the usual one, and after Mokuba fell asleep, she'd let her hand touch his hair gently, before rolling over to face the wall, and her fears.

Tomorrow morning her valiant little knight would be gone. Seto thought that the information Joey left her would help him win the tournament, and if the tournament started without his getting that information, he'd be angry. If he was going to kill her anyway, why hadn't he tortured her for it? Scruples?

The best case scenario for her would be if he decided to let her go and trust that he could discredit her story when she went to the police, or threaten her in some way so she'd have to stay silent, but who could he threaten? Uncle Henry? She'd never been close to him, and besides, he was very old and not likely to last for very long. With Joey's death, she'd lost the only close family she had.

Serenity rolled over on her back and stared at the ceiling.

The worse case scenario for her would be if Seto took his brother to Japan, and as soon as they were out the door, Angus tortured the information out of her, shot her and disposed of her body somewhere. She doubted he'd do it in the apartment though. With the bullet holes, the noise, and the bloody mess to clean up? No, she couldn't see Seto wanting that in his home. So she'd be driven somewhere. Perhaps they'd finally resort to torturing her in a last-ditch attempt to get her to talk and then call Seto in Japan with the results.

Well, if they tried to remove her, she'd fight. It wouldn't do any good, but she'd been passive for too long. She may not have any weapons besides her teeth and fingernails, but she'd use them if she had to. With that resolved, Serenity closed her eyes and tried to sleep.

In the morning, Mokuba woke excited. He dashed to the bathroom, and even showered without being reminded that he hadn't done so the night before. Serenity let her eyes wander the room, registering everything one last time. Mokuba's child sized desk and chair, left slightly out, the big teddy bear on the toy chest, the blue walls, the fluffy carpet, all had been chosen with care by someone who loved Mokuba. She hated Seto for what he'd done to her and to Joey, but she had to admit that someday he'd be an excellent father.

Then Mokuba was rushing out of the bathroom, declaring that it was her turn, and all but pushing her through the door. Serenity took her time showering, blew dry her hair, and put the football jersey back on, along with the underwear she'd washed overnight and hung inside a cabinet to dry where Mokuba couldn't see it. One thing she wouldn't miss, whether she was murdered or let go, was the football jersey.

She hadn't seen her bloodied sleep-T since Mokuba had given her his father's jersey, and supposed it had been thrown away. She took one last look in the mirror. A girl with reddish brown hair and warm brown eyes looked back at her. She was getting used to seeing herself without makeup. She opened the door and left the bathroom.

There, sitting on the floor, surrounded by shopping bags, was Mokuba.

"Surprise!" he shouted, jumped up and shoved a bag toward her. "We brought you presents!"

"We?" she echoed faintly, and saw Seto, arms crossed, leaning in the doorway. Then Mokuba was tugging on her jersey.

"Open them! Open them!"

Bemused, she allowed herself to be tugged to the floor and obediently began opening bags and boxes. There were several outfits, all casual wear, jeans, t-shirts, sweaters, tennis shoes, and a velour sweat suit in an amber color that was perfect. She'd had a favorite dress once in that color. Mokuba wrinkled his nose when he saw her open that one.

"I wanted to get you the green one, but Seto said you'd look better in that color. I think the green one was better; it was the same exact color of Gatorade! Do you like this one OK?"

"I'd like anything you got me." Serenity reassured him. She reached for another bag, and pulled out a suede jacket in chocolate brown that accented her hair color perfectly. She felt her eyes filling with tears. No one, not even Joey, had ever bought her clothes that suited her style and coloring so perfectly.

"Don't you like it, Serenity?" asked Mokuba anxiously.

She drew a shaky breath. It was too much. Directing her gaze at Seto, she said, "It's beautiful, but why? Why have you done all this?"

Mokuba hugged her. "Because we love you, silly." That got Serenity's tears going even more.

Seto straightened. "Come on, Mokuba, don't forget the last gift."

"But she hasn't opened that bag yet!" Mokuba pointed to a pink Victoria's Secret bag with a mischievous expression on his face.

"And she won't while you're in the room." Seto retorted. "I warned you about this. Now help me out here."

They both disappeared, and returned with a suitcase, a large one with tapestry sides – the type that seemed too pretty to trust to the airport baggage handlers. Serenity had to laugh; the suitcase was almost bigger than Mokuba.

"Do you like it?" He asked, beaming.

"I love it! I love everything." She dared to look at Seto. He was looking at her with an expression she'd never seen before.

"Then maybe you'll tell me what a "cup size" is? Seto won't even though he was talking to the clerk lady about it."

Seto coughed hurriedly, and grabbed Mokuba by the hand. "That's it, we're leaving. Serenity needs to pack if we're all going to make the plane."

He turned back as Mokuba preceded him out the door. "The car leaves in an hour. We'll be at breakfast. Join us when you're done."

Serenity remained sitting on the floor surrounded by clothing with designer tags. It would take her at least a year to earn enough extra money to pay Seto back for what he'd spent on the clothes, she thought dazedly.

He wasn't going to kill her. He was taking her with them. She was going to live. With the weight of the world lifted from her shoulders, Serenity grabbed the Victoria's Secret bag, the Velour sweat suit, white t-shirt, tennis shoes, and socks, and disappeared into the bathroom to dress in her first real clothes in over a week.

o-o-o

The plane ride was long. It was, after all, a long way from New York to Japan. Seto spent the first part of the journey working frenetically on his laptop computer. Serenity could hear the keys clicking away at top speed. She and Mokuba played his portable Minoan game for hours, until finally his eyes grew heavy, and she convinced him to watch a video. The Kaiba International jet was a marvel. The first class sized seats all had video screens fixed to the seats in front of them which could be programmed with whatever video you wanted. Mokuba soon fell asleep.

Serenity got up to go find a blanket for him. As she stood, she attracted Seto's attention.

"What is it?" He asked, glancing up from his computer.

Serenity motioned to the seat next to hers. "Mokuba's asleep," she whispered softly. "Are there any blankets?"

Seto turned in his seat and gestured to one of the security guards sitting a few rows behind him to go get one. It was there in under a minute, so Serenity took it from the guard, a lanky Irishman called Finn, and placed it gently over Mokuba. She turned his video off, then tried to settle down in her own seat, but as she sat, she involuntarily glanced back toward Seto, and found him watching her.

"Come here."

Serenity blinked. It was an order, but spoken so softly that in any other circumstances she might have thought it a request. She rose, walked back the three rows of seats and sat across the aisle from him, and waited as he closed the lid on his laptop computer.

"I'd like to thank you for looking after Mokuba."

"I…It's nothing." Serenity was seriously confused. This was the last thing she'd expected. "After all, it's not like I really had a choice." Oh dear, that made it sound like she was complaining about being kidnapped again. "I mean…"

Seto took on that inscrutable look again, and he closed his laptop. "I know what you mean, but you're wrong. You didn't have to keep Mokuba company, or keep him occupied, but you did."

Serenity took a deep breath. There was something about being on an almost empty plane, dimly lit, that encouraged confidences.

"You give me too much credit. I stayed with Mokuba because I didn't think you'd hurt me while he was in the room. That's all."

Why was he staring at her so intently?

"And I suppose that's why you started giving him piano lessons?"

Was he laughing at her? "Uh, no. That just sort of, well, happened." To her horror, Serenity felt her cheeks get warm. She was blushing, and even in the dim light he might notice. To distract him, she changed the subject.

"What are you working on?" She asked brightly.

He went very still for a moment, then reopened the laptop cover, and angled it on the try in front of him so that she could see it. On the screen there were thumbnail sketches of game chips, the antique ones, and at the bottom there was some sort of program running numbers at top speed. He moved his index finger on the mouse, and brought up one of the thumbnail sketches to a larger size. It was a photograph of the silver gamechip.

"This one's yours." He said bluntly. "The rest are from various finds on Crete. They represent the most complete set of game chips around. Andromachus may have seen complete sets of gamechips while cataloging the excavations, but he never used more than three quarters of the original sets when designing his own chips for the modern version of the game he created. These are what the actual Minoans would have used."

"Oh." Serenity managed to say.

He mentioned it so casually, her gamechip. The one he'd stolen.

"I suppose it helps you to play the modern game better if you understand more about the ancient one?" she offered timidly.

Seto leaned back in his seat, his hair falling over his eyes, as his head hit the backrest. He steepled his fingers, and said carefully, "The opposite. I play the modern game to better understand the ancient one, but I assume you already knew that."

Serenity caught her breath, Joey's last warning ringing in her memory. 'Whatever you do, don't tell Kaiba. I think he tried to kill me. He can't know Serenity, the fate of the world depends on it.'

What was she doing? How could she even consider telling Kaiba the secrets Joey whispered to her on his hospital bed, trying desperately to see how important it was to keep the game chip and the real purpose of the Minoan game away from men like Kaiba who would use it for God only knew what ends?

She bit her lip, and stared down at her hands, which she'd clenched together in her lap. She was beginning to trust Seto Kaiba, and that was dangerous. He was still enigmatic, cold in some respects, and very aloof, but the way he cared for his brother, and the fact that he hadn't hurt her when he very easily could have were affecting her opinion of him.

She heard a click, and saw that Seto had leaned away from her to open a small metal briefcase on the seat next to him. He drew something out of it, turned in his seat, and handed it across the aisle to her.

Serenity stopped breathing for a second. There in his palm lay Joey's gamechip. It had been cleaned, polished even, but she recognized the markings on it at once.

"Take it."

Slowly, she stretched out her hand until it covered the gamechip in his. He placed his other hand gently on top of hers, and flipped it over so that the chip now rested in her palm, a cold, flat weight. Then he took his hands away.

"Why are you giving it back to me? I don't understand. Or are you really giving it back?" She wrenched her eyes off the precious chip and looked straight into his.

"For now, it's in your care. As I've trusted Mokuba to you."

Serenity pressed the chip next to her heart and lowered her head. He trusted her? Was he crazy? Was this just a ploy so that she'd feel she had to trust him back?

"Hey! What's that?" Mokuba's blue eyes topped by his unruly mass of black hair popped over the seat top a few rows up.

"Come back and see." Seto invited.

Within seconds the small boy clambered across the seats and down the aisle, and Serenity found herself showing him the gamechip, which Mokuba duly admired.

Very conscious of his older brother listening, Serenity described how her brother Joey had bought it from a friend who'd got it from an excavation site on Crete that no one else had found. She judiciously left out the part about Gus Larson's drug addiction and the fact that he'd illegally smuggled that game chip as well as others out of Greece to sell to support his habit. She also left out what Larson had told Joey about what he saw in that treasure trove of gamechips when he'd first entered the ruin. She told Mokuba instead that it was the last thing Joey had given her, so it was very special to her.

"Then how did Seto get it?"

"Huh?"

"Well, he passed it to you, so how did he get it?"

"Um…Seto?" Serenity decided to let the thief field that question.

He didn't even have the grace to appear uncomfortable.

"I was cleaning it for her." He said and tapped quickly on his keyboard. "When I got it from her it looked like this." He called up a picture of the chip as it had appeared the last time Serenity saw it, still tarnished, with the figures barely legible, and showed it to Mokuba on screen.

"Wow! Were the other ones dirty too?" Mokuba pointed to the edges of the thumbnail sketches showing behind the larger picture.

"Some, but they're all clean now."

"Can I see?"

Serenity expected Seto to fob him off, but instead he surprised her and lifted the briefcase across the laptop, instructing Mokuba to sit down by Serenity. Serenity scooted to the window seat to let Mokuba take the aisle seat across from his brother. Mokuba happily began taking each gamechip out of its place in the briefcase and handing them to Serenity. Each were superb examples, many of marble, some of malachite, and a few gold, and other polished stones she wasn't familiar with. Mokuba recognized some of the markings that were similar to those on modern game chips. He also showed Serenity the tiny holes carved at the top and bottom of each gamechip.

"They don't do that on the modern gamechips you know."

"Really? I hadn't noticed."

"Yep. Seto and I think it's because maybe they used to string them around their neck like necklaces so they wouldn't lose them!"

She laughed. "Wouldn't that have been a little heavy?"

Mokuba crinkled his brow, "Well, if you were small like me, but it wouldn't have bothered Seto any, would it?"

As Seto reassured Mokuba that he could handle wearing a necklace of stone and metal gamechips, but wouldn't think about wearing them to the tournament that way, a thought struck Serenity. Clutching Joey's gamechip, she made her excuses and locked herself in the bathroom, where she turned on the faucet and tested her theory. It was faint, but it was there. The answer to the one question Joey hadn't been able to discover.

Sobered, she returned to the brothers to find Mokuba reluctantly putting all the antique game pieces back in the briefcase. She handed him Joey's gamechip to put away as well.

"But don't you want to keep it?" Mokuba asked, puzzled.

Serenity found the strength to smile at him. "I think it will be safer with the others for now. I wouldn't want to lose it."

Mokuba shrugged. "Okay." He said and put it away.

Oh Joey, how I wish you were still here. Serenity felt suddenly, incredibly alone. You'd have kicked yourself when I told you what you missed. Still, how could you have known? You got the rest of it, I still don't quite know how you figured out all that technical stuff, but even a genius can have a blind side. It all made perfect sense now.

Suddenly aware that Seto was watching her speculatively, Serenity pretended fatigue, went back to her seat and slept.


	7. Chapter 7

Note to reviewers:

WolfDaughter – Well, it's my first fanfiction story. The first stories I wrote in high school and college are so bad that you couldn't pay people to read them! For the good of humanity, I won't be posting them. Hope you like the newest chapter.

Kasifya – Glad I could give you a break, and yes, Serenity's got it bad for Seto.

Bluedragonflyofdestiny – Ah, Sailor Moon – I loved that show! I used to rush home to watch it and Gundam Wing, back when Cartoon Network actually had a good lineup in the afternoons.

B.E.W.DwarriorPrincess – Yes, I made up the whole Minoan Game thing, and the secret to it as well, which will be revealed in the last chapter, chapter eight. It's a bit improbable, but oh well. You can get away with a lot in an AU story!

IrethAncalime3791 – Thank you! I think I'm not getting many reviews because I'm unknown in the Yu-gi-oh story section. I usually write Rurouni Kenshin stories, but I've got writer's block right now so I thought I'd post an old story instead. I'm glad you're enjoying it!

Anonymous – Thanks for all your nice compliments! As for the cup size, I'm just figuring Seto's remarkable powers of perception came into play. In other words, he saw, he remembered, and he guessed!

CHAPTER SEVEN

Tokyo was a marvel. Serenity and Mokuba spent the drive from the airport glued to the windows of the limo, which was a trifle crowded with Angus and Seto sitting across from them and Dan, the security guard, sharing their seat. Customs was over in a flash. Serenity reflected that it really paid off to be a millionaire with your own jet. Despite the fatigue of travel, she felt as wired as Mokuba.

When they got out at the hotel, she could sense the bustle and excitement. The lobby was crowded with knots of people in tournament t-shirts. Angus' security crew whisked them through before any of them could come up and start a conversation, but Mokuba managed to wave to a few people and call out their names before Angus' stern glare put a stop to that.

In the elevator, Mokuba spoke volubly about his acquaintances.

"Did you see the two guys in glasses I waved to? They're in college!"

Serenity remembered a vague impression of twin boys with olive skinned Mediterranean looks, who'd grinned back at Mokuba in the lobby. "That was Tony and Joe. They come to all the big tournaments. They have newsletter and everything. The dark haired guy with the dice earring was Duke. He invented a whole other version of the game, but I don't understand it. Lots of my friends are here. I didn't see Kenji though. Too bad, I like him. Maybe he'll be at the dinner tonight?" Mokuba tugged at his brother's sleeve.

"Maybe." Seto was noncommittal. Serenity wondered if he'd slept at all on the plane. He looked tired.

Then the elevator was at their floor. Angus and Finn were off first, Dan and another guard, Liam, were following in a different elevator with the luggage. Fergus was still at the car.

They were booked in an enormous suite of rooms. Serenity was amused to discover that she and Mokuba were still sharing a room, the one room with no connecting doors other than the front entrance, but with two queen-sized beds. She'd heard space was at a premium in Tokyo, but this room was like any luxury hotel room in America. Leaving Mokuba to laugh at Japanese TV, she headed for the bathroom and took a shower.

That afternoon, she and Mokuba, accompanied by Dan and Fergus while Angus and another guard stayed with Seto, went sight seeing. At first Serenity was surprised that they'd allow her out in public, until she realized that she was in a foreign land, without her passport, and with no money in her pocket. She assumed Angus still had her passport, since he was the one who'd handed it over to the customs agents in the airport.

Besides, Dan and Fergus watched her too closely to allow her to run away, and they didn't allow chatting. Serenity was a little disappointed not to take the fabled Tokyo mass transport system, but had to admit that riding in a limo had its benefits.

When they returned to the hotel, Mokuba stopped in the lobby to point out an arrogant looking college aged kid in a baseball cap and flannel shirt over a black t-shirt and jeans. Surrounding him were a bevy of excited Japanese girls carrying autograph books.

"That's Bobby Taylor." Said Mokuba, rolling his eyes. "He's a real jerk."

Serenity made a non-committal "Hmm" noise, but couldn't help noticing that the American boy was definitely not someone she'd choose as an ambassador of goodwill. He was only signing the autograph books of the prettiest girls, brushing the plainer ones aside as if they didn't exist.

Across the lobby from them, a short blonde boy with spiky unruly hair walked past the Bobby Taylor entourage. He was speaking animatedly with two taller boys, and a girl.

"Oh! That's Yugi Moto" Mokuba pointed. "He's the toughest opponent in Europe to beat, that's what Seto says."

"Yes, I think I've heard of him," said Serenity. Joey had spoken of Moto a few times that she recalled, and always with affection and admiration. As she remembered, Yugi had beaten Joey several times, much to his chagrin.

"Oh everyone's heard of him! He was the youngest international champion ever. And those people with him? Those are his friends. They go to all the tournaments together. They're really nice."

They looked nice too, the girl with the short, blonde hair smiling at something Yugi said while a taller brown haired boy spoke with a striking looking kid with hair so blonde it looked silver-white in the lobby's fluorescent lighting. Serenity could easily imagine Joey standing over there with them, laughing and relaxed before the tournament began. She missed him with a fierce pang.

Serenity had paused while Mokuba was talking about the other players. Dan and Fergus took up positions on either side. Behind them another party entered the hotel lobby. Mokuba glanced back, did a double take, cried "Kenji!" and slipped neatly between Dan and Fergus to skid to a stop before a tall, pleasant looking Japanese boy in his twenties or so.

Dan started after Mokuba, but Fergus grabbed his arm and shook his head slightly, then jerked his chin toward Serenity, and followed after Mokuba to stand a few feet away as the boy spoke to Kenji. Serenity got the message loud and clear. She was Dan's headache; Mokuba was Fergus's.

She watched the Japanese boy's eyes lose their preoccupied look and turn to one of pleasure. He dropped unselfconsciously to one knee to speak to Mokuba.

"Ah, I was wondering if you'd come again with your brother this year. I'm still waiting for my re-match." He mentioned a popular video game that Serenity knew Mokuba favored.

Mokuba laughed, "I beat you good last time!"

"You certainly did." agreed Kenji placidly. "But I warn you, I've been practicing."

"So've I! I beat Serenity the last three times I played with her." Seeing Kenji's inquiring look, Mokuba pointed. "That's Serenity."

"Ah," Kenji got back to his feet and Mokuba grabbed his hand and pulled him forward. Over his shoulder, Fergus shot a warning look at Dan, who came to stand closer behind Serenity. 'Message received.' She thought tiredly. She wasn't to say anything. What could she say anyhow with two big hulking men ready to carry her out kicking and screaming if necessary?

Panting slightly, Mokuba came to a halt in front of her, and dropped Kenji's hand.

"This is Serenity." Then he looked at both of them, obviously expecting them to become firm friends on the spot, since they were both his friends.

Kenji extended his hand politely. "I am Kenji Kanazawa. It is a pleasure to meet you."

Serenity took his hand and shook it, noticing that he bowed before stepping back, so she bowed slightly too.

"I'm Serenity Wheeler. It's a pleasure to meet you too."

Kenji's eyes looked puzzled. "Wheeler? Are you then the sister of Joey Wheeler?"

"I…"

"Yes, but you can't talk about him or she'll be sad." Mokuba whispered urgently.

Fergus took charge at that point. "Mokuba, we have to go or we'll be late meeting your brother." He nodded to Dan, who took Serenity's arm and gently but firmly turned her and began walking her to the elevators before she had a chance to say another word.

"Bye Kenji!" Mokuba hollered, and ran to catch up.

o-o-o

"Kanazawa knows who she is." Angus got off the cell phone and reported the fact to Seto, who looked up from where he was working on his laptop computer at the hotel room's spacious desk.

"How?"

"Mokuba introduced them in the lobby," said Angus in disgust.

Seto laughed shortly. "I might have known."

"We shouldn't have let her out of the hotel room." Angus was being mulish again. Seto knew he was probably right, but to let Mokuba out and not Serenity would have led to Mokuba asking questions, loudly, and probably in public about why Serenity couldn't go.

"She's not important to anyone but us. Now that it's known she's with us, whoever was after Wheeler's gamechip will know that we have it. This could work to our benefit, draw them out."

"You're not still thinking of taking her to the dinner tonight?" asked Angus.

"Why not? I'd planned to see who, if anyone, reacted to her presence without knowing her name, but even though Mokuba's scotched that, it still might be interesting to see what happens. Besides, I've already bought her a dress."

Angus' expression hardened. "You're not going soft on her, are you lad? She'll talk, you know. The first chance she gets. Then we're both in the soup."

Seto let his expression go flat. "I gave up 'soft' long ago. As for her talking, she won't, at least not tonight. As for later, let me worry about that.

o-o-o

Room service came while Serenity was in the bathroom. She came out to find Mokuba stuffing himself with French fries at the room's small table. He waved cheerfully at her, and swallowed. There was only one plate on the table.

"Don't I get some?" she asked teasingly.

"Naw, Seto says you're going to the opening dinner."

"I'm what?"

"Yeah, he left that for you." Mokuba pointed with a French fry to the bed he'd designated as hers. On it lay a dress of tangerine colored chiffon with matching shoes, evening bag, and even stockings. And there, next to the shoes was a white paper bag with a distinctive design on the side.

Serenity pounced, and opened it. Makeup!

"I don't know why he wants to go this year. Usually we don't. Seto says it's mostly boring politicians and bigwigs trying to make an _impression_" Mokuba emphasized the last word by rolling his eyes. "I can't go because it's past my bed time, but you can."

Serenity glanced up from pawing through the foundation, eye shadow and lip liner. "When does the dinner begin?" she asked.

"Half an hour."

With a purely feminine yelp, Serenity grabbed everything off the bed and ran back into the bathroom. Thank goodness she'd had a shower and washed her hair only a few hours before.

In exactly twenty-five minutes later she walked out of the bathroom. She despised herself for putting on the dress and makeup, or at least she should despise herself.

She should really have just waited for Seto to arrive at the door then thrown the dress in his face, but she couldn't. She'd hate herself tomorrow. Tonight she was wearing makeup, and a dress, the most beautiful one she'd ever worn – and that included both her prom dresses from high school and the bridesmaid dress she'd worn to her college room-mate's wedding.

This dress was tight across the bodice, lower than she'd have chosen, but snug so that she didn't have the least fear of it creeping down. Small capped sleeves covered her shoulders, including the scar. Gathered bands of fabric crisscrossed her bosom, leading to a high empire waist where the almost-orange chiffon swirled down in at least three layers over tangerine silk lining. The dress floated around her as she walked. She twirled for Mokuba.

"What do you think?" she asked.

Mokuba, sitting on the edge of his bed, looked up from his book. His eyes got big. He turned the book around so she could see it, and pointed to the picture of Tristan and Isolde, star crossed lovers of the King Arthur story.

"You look like her."

Serenity stepped across the room to see. In the picture Isolde was wearing a long orange gown, and had her hands clasped over her chest, gazing adoringly at her knight. Isolde's gown showed considerably less skin than Serenity's, but the colors were very similar.

She smiled down at Mokuba "I suppose I do."

Serenity felt Seto coming up behind her before she turned her head and saw him. She hadn't even heard the hotel room door open. Seto was dressed formally in a tuxedo. It made him seem taller somehow. He came to a stop and looked over her shoulder at the picture.

"No." he said decisively. "Serenity is much prettier."

Then he took her arm and walked her out of the room and down to the elevator, flanked by Dan and Fergus, also in tuxedos.

Flustered, Serenity stayed silent until the elevator doors closed. Daring to look at him at last she asked,

"Aren't you risking an awful lot by taking me to a dinner? In public?"

Seto looked amused. "In what sense?"

"Aren't you afraid I'll tell someone you kidnapped me? No one here knows I tried to throw myself out of a window. They might just believe me."

Serenity felt his muscles clench slightly where their arms were linked. As the elevator doors opened he said, "You're welcome to say whatever you like to anyone at our table."

And with that he pulled her out of the elevator and across the foyer to a grand ballroom filled with tables surrounding a dance floor with a long head table on a raised dais. They were just in time. Seto moved her swiftly to a table near the entrance and seated her as a distinguished looking man rose from his seat at the head table and moved to the podium at the center of the table to speak quickly in Japanese and English. The man broke into a speech, welcoming the tournament contestants and extolling the virtues of gamesmanship and Tokyo equally.

"That," whispered Seto in her ear as he pushed her seat in, "Is the mayor of Tokyo."

He sat next to her and didn't say another word until the next two speeches, both given in Japanese, were done. Serenity clapped politely when everyone else did, and didn't understand anything. Instead she watched the people at the head table. The mayor, and the second speaker were intense and serious, but the third, though she didn't understand his words, was charismatic, and had an aura of confident authority. He also had the room smiling several times, and the applause for him was thunderous. He finished and sat down next to a petulant looking young man. Serenity had been curious to note that while everyone else at the head table had smiled, the youngest man hadn't.

"Who is that at the end of the head table?" she asked Seto, nodding at the youngest Japanese man seated on the dais as the waiters began serving the soup.

Seto focused in on the man.

"That is Yoshi Takahashi, son of Nagaoka Takahashi who just spoke. Takahashi senior owns one of the largest electronics firms in the world. Yoshi is competing in the tournament tomorrow."

Then the gentleman to Seto's right said something in Japanese, and Serenity was astounded to hear him answer in the same language.

As she looked around the table she quickly realized that they all spoke Japanese, and only Japanese. When the elderly gentleman to her left tried to strike up a conversation with her, all she could do was shrug helplessly and tell him she only spoke English. He smiled back, said "I no English" and gave up.

At least, Serenity reflected, the food was good. She ate very slowly to kill time, and people watched, as Seto carried on conversations around the table. Finally dinner was over. Music, which had been a low backdrop to the food, swelled, and couples – mostly older ones – got up to dance. This was not the wild rock of prom night, but old-fashioned dance music, slow and stately. Two of the couples at Serenity and Seto's table got up to dance, including the one on Serenity's side. Seto continued to talk to the last couple for another ten minutes or so until they left. Then it was just the two of them alone at the table.

She looked at him. "You win. You thought of everything. You knew everyone at the table spoke only Japanese, didn't you?"

"I did," he admitted.

It was like they were back on the airplane, this feeling of being totally alone and isolated though they really weren't.

"Why did you bring me here?" She asked softly. "You don't need what I know to win some tournament. Why am I here?"

For a brief moment, she thought he was really going to answer her seriously, then his eyes shuttered. "To dance, of course." He rose. "Shall we?"

She stared stupidly at the hand he held out to her and began shaking her head apologetically. "I don't know how to dance. Not this type anyway."

"It's a waltz, not the Chinese water torture. I step forward, you step back."

She placed her hand in his and stood. "Retreating" she mused. "I'm good at that."

Somehow it wasn't as witty out loud as it had been when she thought of saying it. He ignored her remark and led her to the dance floor.

It was a bit more complicated than he'd made it sound, but Seto managed to guide her around the room without too many mishaps. By the third or fourth dance, she actually got the hang of it. She even managed to forget, after the first nerve-racking circuit of the room, that the last time he'd touched her he'd been searching her for the game chip. He danced the way he did everything else, with calm, self-confident precision.

After a while she began to feel secure enough in his arms to stop looking down at her feet, and to look at him. His eyes were just so incredibly clear blue. It wasn't fair that a man should end up with such beautiful eyes, she thought to herself bemusedly.

Then his cell phone rang. Seto stopped dancing immediately, and pulled her to the side of the dance floor with one hand, as he took his phone out of his pocket with the other. He kept hold of her elbow as he answered it.

"Kaiba here. What do you mean floating? In the Hudson where? When was he killed? Understood. No, just help the family make the arrangements after the coroner releases the body. Be helpful, but don't volunteer anything. You don't know if I can be reached. Tell them once the tournament starts I don't take messages, and remind them I'll be back in less than a week. I'm counting on you to deal with it."

Serenity was horrified at what she was overhearing. The minute Seto hung up she asked, "Who died?"

Seto shot her a look that chilled her. At first she thought he wasn't going to answer then he said, "Murphy, one of my security guards who went missing before we left. Come on, we're done here."

The name was familiar, but Serenity couldn't remember which of the guard's faces went with that name. She'd heard him mentioned recently, but the memory just wasn't coming, and then the guards at the doorway of the ballroom joined them. Angus came up to meet them in the elevator. He nodded to Dan and Fergus as he stepped inside.

As soon as the doors closed Seto spoke to Angus. "The police found Murphy's body today floating in the Hudson River. He'd been shot."

"What?" thundered Angus.

"Evidently whoever paid him off decided he was disposable," said Seto evenly. "I want you to double up and put Dan on Mokuba with Fergus tonight. Finn and Liam can take over when their shift is done."

"And what about you, lad? Who'll be guarding you?"

"You of course."

"I'm flattered, but my rule is two men on you at all times."

"I'll be fine. Mokuba needs more protection than I do. Besides, who better to look after me than my chief of security?"

The elevator doors opened just then and Seto managed to escort Serenity out before Angus could come up with a retort. He even walked her right up to Mokuba's door, more to avoid arguing with Angus than any real desire to see her to the door, thought Serenity. Still, she was touched by his concern for his brother - touched and a little frightened.

How many more people would have to die? Who had killed Seto's security guard, and why? Did Seto's doubling of the guard mean that Mokuba was in danger, or was he just being cautious? With all these questions roiling around in her brain, Serenity almost let Seto open the door for her without speaking, but as his hand touched the doorknob, she opened her mouth and spoke.

"Seto."

Surprised, he stopped to look at her. "Yes?"

"About tonight. The dancing I mean. Thank you." She said softly.

"It was nothing."

Why was he so hard to read? It was like he was playing poker and determined not to give anything away.

"Still, I appreciate it. I don't think I'd ever have learned how to waltz if you hadn't shown me how." She took a breath and stepped in closer, lowering her voice. "And I promise you, I'll look after Mokuba too. I won't let anything happen to him."

Seto stared into her eyes for a long moment, then nodded curtly and pushed open the door. The door stopped midway through its swing. Serenity had already started to pass Seto as the door opened, so she saw it first. There, on the ground lay Finn. The door had hit him in the side as it opened. He moaned through the duct tape on his mouth. Shocked, Serenity saw that he was bound with electrical cord, hands and ankles, and there was a bloody wound on his temple. Seto instantly swung his arm around to push her back, but she ducked under it and ran into the room.

"Mokuba? Mokuba!" She called, though she knew in her heart that it was too late.

Mokuba's bed was empty. She ran to the bathroom and threw open the door. He wasn't there either. Behind her, she heard Seto speaking urgently to Angus and the other two guards. She came back into the room. Dan was kneeling over Finn, and rolling him onto his back, feeling for the pulse in the prone security guard's neck.

"He's alive, he…" Dan broke off and pulled out a sheet of paper that was sticking out of the lapel of Finn's suit.

Angus snatched it up and read it out loud.

"We have the boy. Bring Serenity Wheeler to the tournament hall at midnight tonight or he dies. Tell the police and he dies. Come alone."

Seto swore, quietly, viciously for a few seconds, and then looked up at Serenity, who stared back at him, appalled.

Angus passed the paper to him. "What do you want to do?"

Finn yelped.

Everyone stopped to look at him and Dan, who was holding the strip of duct tape that had covered Finn's mouth. Angus dropped to his knees immediately and pulled Finn to a seated position on the floor.

"What happened?" He barked.

Finn put his hand to his head and pulled it away bloody. "I'm not sure really. I was posted in here. Liam came in to ask if I wanted anything from the soda machine, and then everything went black."

Angus growled deep in his throat. "Looks like Murphy wasn't our only traitor."

Finn looked at him, "You mean Liam…?"

"Aye laddie. Now go with Fergus and get that head wound cleaned up."

Fergus pulled Finn's arm around his own shoulders and supported him out of the room. Dan started to follow, but Angus motioned him to stay. "Two men on Kaiba at all times." He barked.

Chastened, Dan nodded and moved to the door, to guard it.

"Forget that. Mokuba's the important one and he's gone." Seto walked over to Dan. "Go get the security tapes for this floor from Hotel Security. Make up a story, anything but the truth. No one can know about Mokuba."

"I understand, sir." Dan left.

"Is that wise, lad?" Angus asked. "Liam might not be the last traitor in our ranks, and I thought you didn't trust that one anyway."

Seto turned. "I don't trust anyone but you in this situation. Let him run errands. It will get him out of the way while we make our plans."

Angus lowered his head and said gruffly, "I don't know why you should trust me, lad. Two of my boys turned traitor and I missed it."

"Never mind." Seto's face was bleak. Serenity wondered how she could ever have thought him expressionless. "We only have little more than an hour until the deadline. We have to get Mokuba back. You remember the last time? We'll do the same."

"The last time," said Angus heavily, "we had three times the men we do now. Finn's wounded and won't be able to help. Fergus I'd bet my life on, but Dan's an unknown, and I won't trust Mokuba's life to a wild card."

"Agreed. But we'll just have to make do. Whoever they are, Fergus will have to circle around behind them, let them know that they'll be caught in a crossfire if they don't hand Mokuba over. With you and I, we can make it work. We'll have to. Come on. We've got the hotel plan from when you did the security sweep here three years ago. It's on my laptop. When Dan gets back I'll think of another errand to get rid of him."

He left sharply, leaving Serenity standing, staring after him. Angus followed but turned back at the door, and pointed a finger at her.

"You try to leave this room," he growled, "And I'll hunt you down myself." With that he closed the door.

A few seconds later she heard the sound of a chair being placed under the doorknob outside the door. Her legs suddenly went weak on her, and she collapsed to the floor by the bed, grabbed her knees, and concentrated very hard on not falling to pieces, or crying.

That was how they found her an hour later. As the door opened, Serenity lifted her chin from where it rested on her knees.

"Come." Seto walked across the room to her and extended his hand.

She looked at it stupidly for a second, until she realized he was offering to help her up. She grabbed his hand and let him pull her to her feet, then walked by him and out the door without a word.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own any Yu-gi-oh characters or plots.

Note: Reviewer responses are at the end of the chapter this time.

CHAPTER EIGHT

The tournament hall was in a converted ballroom on the lobby level of the hotel. The lobby floor was huge. The bank of elevators Seto chose was far from the front desk. The only other person in the elevator with them was Angus. He and Seto spoke low voiced to each other on the ride down. Serenity pretended an interest in the seam of the elevator doors. Her hand brushed the fabric of her gown. She really should have changed, she thought dully. A party dress was hardly appropriate attire for being handed over like a sacrificial lamb to a pack of murderous kidnappers.

At the floor above the lobby, Angus left the elevator, leaving them alone. Serenity could feel Seto looking at her, but didn't turn around, and when the elevator doors opened on the lobby, she stepped out and waited for him. He took her arm and pulled her to the left, away from the registration area. She stole a glance at his face. It was set, determined, but also completely calm. He was back to using what she'd dubbed to herself as his 'poker playing' face. It was so like Joey's game playing expression that she felt her heart lurch within her.

Joey.

She'd most likely be joining him soon. She couldn't delude herself that her life was anywhere near as important as Mokuba's was to Seto. Mokuba was his brother, and Seto would do anything for him. That was exactly as it should be, so why did it hurt so much?

They came to the doors leading to the tournament hall. On placards in front of them were signs in English, Japanese and several other languages proclaiming the tournament matches start and end times. The first two pairs of doors Seto tried were locked, but the third opened easily. He pulled the door back and stepped aside for her to walk through. As she came level to him, she paused and whispered softly, "I want you to know, whatever happens, I understand. I love Mokuba too."

Then she was past him, taking care not to look at his face. He followed closely behind her, taking her arm as he had when escorting her to and from the dinner earlier that night.

It seemed, she reflected dully, like that dinner had been a lifetime ago.

The tournament hall was mostly dark. Someone had left maybe a quarter of the available recessed ceiling lights on so there were little pockets of light in the dimness. The room had square tables with pairs of chairs scattered around the middle. Areas for spectators were partitioned off with dark colored cords around the outside rim of the tournament area. Seto unhooked a cord and ushered her through past the tables and toward a dais at one end of the room with a long table in the middle. It was presumably where the judges and moderators would be seated. The table did not take up the whole dais. Someone had tried to counter the austerity of the hall by placing patterned folding partitions behind the table with fake vaguely tropical looking plants at the sides. Over the tops of the partitions, Serenity could see the top lintels of another pair of doors, one on either side of the dais.

They were half way across the room, weaving their way between tournament tables, when a voice with a Japanese accent, spoke.

"That is far enough."

A young man, familiar looking, dressed in a tuxedo, stepped out from behind the partition, and walked slowly, insolently, to the center of the dais. Following him was the largest, strongest, Japanese man Serenity had ever seen. He was built like a tank; head set on shoulders any linebacker in the NFL would have been proud of, with legs the width of tree trunks. With one of his hands he grasped the shoulder of Mokuba, who was walking, just barely, under his own power. Even at a distance in the dim light, Serenity could see that the child was weaving, hardly able to walk a straight line. He'd been drugged.

She let out a little sound of involuntary sympathy, and felt Seto's hand tighten on her arm. She looked over at the tuxedo clad young Japanese man on the dais, who'd stepped deliberately into a patch of light, and recognized him.

"Yoshi Takahashi" she breathed.

He heard her, and, there was no other word for it, preened. "You brought the woman. Good."

"I brought her." Agreed Seto, and pulled Serenity in more closely to his side. "What do you plan to do with her?"

Takahashi laughed, crossed his arms, and lifted his chin. "What you could not. I plan to get the secrets Joey Wheeler left behind."

"What secrets?" asked Seto quietly.

Takahashi uncrossed his arms and leaned forward to hiss. "Don't take me for a fool, Kaiba. I know your research into the Minoan game. You're close to finding out what the game was really for. I, too, read the article on the inscription. 'The power to rule over the earth' wasn't it? Whatever that power is, I want it, and with the girl I will get it."

"You're the heir to one of the richest companies in Japan. Why bother with an ancient Minoan secret? Your father would give you ask for, and someday you'll rule his company. What more could you possibly want?"

Takahashi's face twisted. "What do you know about it? You got your father's company when you were in college! You never had to wait for power. I'm sick of waiting. I won't wait. With the secrets of the Minoans, perhaps I'll start my own company. Perhaps I'll take my father's company instead of waiting for him to hand it over when I'm 'wise enough to handle it'".

Takahashi snapped his fingers. The large man walked to the edge of the dais, pulling Mokuba with him. "You're stalling for time. It won't work. I have your brother. You have the girl. We make the trade now."

"How do I know you'll hold up your end of the bargain?" asked Seto.

Takahashi flicked a hand toward the sky and looked bored. "I want the girl, not the brat. When I have her I'll leave. Oh, and I expect you to lose to me at the tournament tomorrow."

Seto's voice grew low, intense. "What makes you think I won't go to the police?"

"Because you stole her in the first place." Takahashi smiled.

Serenity gasped. How could he have possibly known that? At her gasp, Takahashi shifted his attention to her.

"She is not so stupid as I had heard. Already she realizes what you do not." He moved toward the left of the dais. Behind the partition, Serenity saw the top edge of a door open and close.

"While you have been so cleverly stalling for time, I have been merely indulging you." He stopped and grinned broadly. "Meet my new chief of security, and his assistant."

From behind the partition, Angus and Fergus stepped onto the dais. Both had guns in their hands, and Serenity saw with a shudder, that there were cylinders attached to the barrels. Silencers. Any shots fired in the tournament hall would not be heard by anyone in the lobby.

"Ah" Seto's reaction to the sight of his trusted security chief was an angry, indrawn breath. He also squeezed Serenity's arm hard.

Takahashi laughed again. Serenity was beginning to really hate that laugh. "So you see, Kaiba, you are really out of time and options."

Seto took a step forward, ignoring the barbs, and set his sights on Angus. "I hope he's paying you well."

Angus opened his mouth to speak but was pre-empted by Takahashi, who stepped directly in front of the Scotsman to answer for him.

"Of course I'm paying him well! Do you think I rely only on my father for money? My mother's father died last year and left me his fortune. It may not be what I will get on my father's death, but it's more than sufficient to pay double the salary you pay! - Plus a bonus for assisting me in getting the girl. Added to what I've already paid for information about your little investigation into Gustaf Larson and your computer program to decipher the game chip codes, I will have bought their loyalty for several lifetimes over," said Takahashi smugly.

"If you have to buy it, it's not loyalty."

"Pretty words," sneered the Japanese boy, "but not practical. Now hand over the girl."

"Wait!" Seto's voice was sharp, commanding. He stepped left, pulling Serenity with him, so that he could look around the Japanese man to see Angus. "Where is Liam?"

"Dead." Angus dropped the word like a rock into a pond before Takahashi could interrupt.

"You killed your own man?" Seto posed it as a question, but it was really a statement, a cold, contemptuous statement.

Angus didn't bother to reply. He didn't look at all sorry or embarrassed either. Serenity found that incredible somehow. She hadn't killed anybody, and Seto's words weren't even directed toward her, but that tone of voice had her cringing in reaction.

"Actually, it was the one called Finn, I believe, who killed him." Takahashi moved left as well, causing Serenity to realize that he was purposely blocking Seto's view of Angus again. The man was absolutely insane about being the center of attention. If he wasn't so dangerous, and completely without morals, she would have found it pitiful. "Oh and by the way, if you were counting on a particular wounded soldier to help you, I wouldn't."

In the darkened audience area at the back of the hall, something moved forward. Finn, his head wound gone, trudged through several pools of light to mount the dais and stand with Angus and Fergus.

"I am very happy to have Mr. Finn on my security team." Bragged Takahashi. "I understand he is very skilled in interrogation. It is amazing how much pain he can generate. He is supposed to be a master at it. I look forward to viewing his work." Takahashi turned and bowed slightly to Finn who inclined his head in acknowledgement.

It was as if Takahashi was discussing viewing a painting or a sculpture. That was when Serenity knew they were beaten. Takahashi wasn't like a normal human being. He was everything she'd mistakenly thought Seto was – cold, pitiless, uncaring, and supremely selfish.

"Now," Takahashi turned back to Seto. "Send the girl to me, and Tanaka here will send your brother to you once she reaches us."

"No."

Takahashi's mouth opened and closed, rather like an unattractive fish, thought Serenity inconsequentially.

"What?"

"I will not hand a woman over to be tortured." said Seto with finality.

Serenity wrenched her arm from his grasp, and ran around a nearby table, keeping it between her and Seto. He'd grabbed at her as she slipped away, but hadn't caught her. He started around the table, but stopped when she spoke.

"Don't. I'll scream. I'm the only one here with nothing to lose by alerting the police and everyone in the lobby." She shifted to face the dais. "If you want me, you have to release Mokuba first."

Takahashi's face grew ugly with anger. "You will learn your place, woman. You do not dictate to me."

"If you want me, set Mokuba down. I'll start walking, we'll pass each other mid way. By the time I reach you, he'll be with his brother. Just like they do it in the movies. You do watch movies don't you?"

"Hmmm." Takahashi appeared to be thinking it over. "The movies? You Americans are obsessed with movies." He sneered, and continued. "As you say, the way they do it in the movies."

"Fine, but you have to drop your weapons."

Once Serenity realized the extent of Takahashi's sociopathic personality, it was easy for her to second-guess him. He might just be arrogant enough to let Seto live so that he could beat him in the tournament tomorrow, but he had no real reason other than that to keep Seto alive, and even less reason for allowing Mokuba to live. There was also that computer program Seto was running. How could Takahashi be sure that Seto wouldn't discover the secret of the Minoan game independently? Even if he had her, and a copy of the program, he wouldn't want any competition in getting the secret. She couldn't count on his desire to humiliate Seto overcoming his need for attention, for being first in everything.

"No!" Angus' response to Serenity's demand was quick, and a mistake.

Takahashi turned quick as a snake and reprimanded him. "I make the decisions. I say drop your weapons."

Reluctantly, Angus and Fergus let their guns fall, and Finn took his out and dropped it on the dais as well. Serenity heaved a sigh of relief. She'd given Seto and Mokuba a chance. She had no illusions. Once she reached the dais, they'd just pick up their guns and try to shoot Seto and Mokuba, but Seto was fast. Maybe he could reach the door with Mokuba before they could shoot. It was what she was counting on.

Takahashi snarled an order at Tanaka, who lowered a groggy Mokuba down to the floor from the dais, and stepped back. Mokuba rubbed his eyes, saw Seto, and started forward instinctively, but slowly. Serenity took a step forward for every one Mokuba managed, to show good faith.

"Serenity."

She flinched at Seto's soft voice, but kept going.

"You don't have to do this."

Mokuba tottered, and nearly fell, grabbing a nearby chair.

"Yes I do," she stole a look over her shoulder at him as Mokuba regained his balance. "Besides, I was going to die anyway, remember?" she whispered, and took another step as Mokuba did.

They met in the center of the tables.

"Serenity? Is the dinner over?" Mokuba asked, blinking at her and swaying.

Ignoring Takahashi hiss of impatience, Serenity knelt by Mokuba, and hugged him.

"Yes, honey. The dinner is over, and Seto's back. You go to him, as fast as you can, OK?" She pulled back, saw him nod solemnly, and stood, looking back over her shoulder so she could take a step when he did.

She was almost to the dais, and Mokuba was almost to Seto when it happened. Angus dropped to the floor and grabbed his gun.

"What are you doing?" shouted Takahashi "I did not tell you to…"

A shot rang out, and a hole appeared in the middle of Angus' forehead. Tanaka dove for his boss, covering Takahashi's body with his own, and nearly smothering him in the process.

After that, things happened very fast. Serenity had whipped around to see where the shot had come from. She saw Seto throw himself over his little brother, and drag him under a table. Another shot, coming from under a nearby table, hit the dais where Finn was reaching for his weapon. Finn screamed, and jumped back, his hand bloody.

Fergus rolled off the dais and tried to dodge around the side, but there were men there suddenly. Japanese men in suits, with those little microphones in their ears, and they dog-piled on Fergus as two others jumped out from behind the partition and grabbed Finn.

It was like a "Men in Black" convention, thought Serenity hysterically. She was still standing near the dais, waiting to get shot. Everyone else seemed to be getting shot, why not her? She sensed movement and turned to her right to see a distinguished looking older Japanese gentleman in a tuxedo walk slowly, ponderously around the fake tropical tree and onto the dais. He stopped by where Tanaka huddled over Yoshi Takahashi and stared down with a look of such sadness on his face that Serenity was shaken from her inertia, and stepped back.

'He should be smiling,' she thought to herself, trying to place him, and then she remembered the last time she'd seen him, at the dinner. He'd been smiling then. He was Takahashi Senior, the man who owned one of the largest electronics firms in Japan. He was Yoshi's father.

The senior Takahashi glanced up at her kindly, then turned his gaze past her. Serenity swiveled to see what he was looking at and saw Seto, rising from the floor where a sobbing Mokuba clung to his arm. She also saw, beyond him, the tablecloth on one of the tournament tables flip up. Dan, grasping a hand gun in his right hand, crawled out from under it and knelt, holding both hands in the air as one of Takahashi senior's black clad security men rushed over to him, and took the gun from him. Judging by the smoke rising from the gun's barrel, Dan was the one who shot Angus and Finn. But why was Dan under the table in the first place? How had he known to be there?

"Mr. Kaiba. I thank you for your phone call. It looks like I was just in time." Takahashi had a much stronger accent than his son, but his diction was perfect.

Seto stood, and placed an arm around Mokuba's shoulders. "I didn't doubt it for a moment, Takahashi-San."

The older man smiled sadly. "My son will be dealt with. He will not bother you or anyone else ever again."

Serenity gasped; she couldn't help it. Was he going to kill his own son?

He heard her, and glanced at her, evidently guessing what she was thinking from her horrified expression. He smiled sadly.

"My wife spent her last years in an asylum in Switzerland. It has the best psychiatric care in Europe. Over the years we have developed quite a relationship with them, and my company has funded several of their studies. Yoshi will be cared for very well there."

"Oh." It was a lame response, but all Serenity could come up with.

"I am sorry, Takahashi-San." Seto said formally.

"It is I who must apologize to you. If there is ever anything that my family can do for you, Mr. Kaiba, you have but to ask."

Distracted by the noises coming from underneath Tanaka, Mr. Takahashi said something in Japanese that had him rolling off Yoshi Takahashi, and pulling the gasping, coughing young man off the dais and out of the room. Yoshi'd had the wind knocked out of him by Tanaka's tackle.

"There is something you could do." Seto said reflectively.

Takahashi senior lifted his gaze to Seto. "Name it, and it is done."

Seto turned his head toward Dan, who'd put his hands, fingers linked, on top of his head and was still kneeling on the floor, watched by one of the men in black who held his gun.

"My man killed the traitor on my security team and wounded another. This could cause him certain legal difficulties. I would appreciate any assistance you could give him in this matter. I wouldn't like to lose such a valuable employee to the Tokyo judicial system."

Takahashi sighed. "For better or worse, the police in this country are not like the police in yours. Things can be….arranged. By the time the tournament is over, your man will be cleared of all charges, and the dead man will be just another statistic in the unsolved crimes of a very crime ridden city. I take it you would prefer the two others to be…incarcerated?"

Seto nodded curtly. "That would be most satisfactory."

"Then there is nothing more to be done here tonight. Konnichi-wa, Mr. Kaiba." Takahashi said something quietly in his own language to his security team, smiled again at Serenity, stuck his hands in his pockets, and walked around the partition. His men followed, with Finn and Fergus in tow.

The last black clad security man tried to hand Dan's gun back to him, but Dan waved it away. The man nodded, spoke to him quietly in English, and gestured to him to follow Takahashi. Dan nodded soberly and began to move toward the dais.

"You can trust Takahashi's lawyers." Seto called to him. "Hurry back when you're done. I need you back on my team."

Dan nodded. "Thanks," he said, and continued on, but Serenity thought his step was lighter than before.

Then they were gone. Mokuba's crying had degraded to the sleepy hiccoughy stage. The lights were still dim, and most of the room left in patches of darkness. It was, Serenity decided, surreal. Soon, she knew, the police would come, the lights would be turned on, and the investigation and questions would start. Then, remembering what Mr. Takahashi had said about the police, and what the mayor had said in his speech quite blatantly about how fiscally advantageous the tournament was for his city, she decided that perhaps the lights would brighten only long enough to clean up the mess.

Seto took Mokuba by the hand and led him to where Serenity stood. As she'd twisted back and forth between Seto and Takahashi, following their conversation, a piece of her hair had fallen across her cheek. Seto reached out and gently smoothed it back, concentrating on it as if it were a crucial move in the Minoan game.

"I told you, you didn't have to do that," he said chidingly.

"Yes I did." She repeated her earlier words. "I didn't know you had a plan. How did you…?" She lifted her hands helplessly; unsure of which part of what he'd done she wanted to know about first.

Seto took a breath, and began. "I started getting suspicious about Angus when he said Murphy had told him our meeting was changed the night someone tried to shoot out my tire. Then Murphy conveniently disappeared. I was already uneasy when I'd asked him to arrange a meeting between me and your brother, and the same afternoon Joey was killed in an accident. Then there was Larson's death in the hospital. It seemed as though someone was determined to thwart me at every turn. When Mokuba was…" Serenity saw Seto's hand tighten on his brother's, "taken again. I knew it had to be Angus."

"But how?"

"Because he was the one who didn't want Dan hired on the security team, and tried to change my mind when I chose him to replace Murphy on the team going to Japan. Everyone else on the team had been hand picked by him. Besides, Angus had been pressuring me to interrogate you more forcefully. He was nearly desperate about it, and he's never been desperate about anything before. Taking Mokuba was an act of desperation. He knew I'd hunt him down and kill him if he ever did anything like that. He had to be acting under someone else's orders. On the way to Japan, I had my financial staff investigate, and they found substantial deposits from Yoshi Takahashi to Angus's Swiss bank accounts. I pretended to be suspicious of Dan, and to give him busywork while Angus was listening. Then I went to the bathroom and called Yoshi's father on his cellphone to tell him of my suspicions. Takahashi lives on the far side of Tokyo. He asked that I stall his son until he could get his team here. So I did."

Serenity was reeling with all the information. "Why didn't you tell me?" She was appalled at how hurt she sounded.

"From the time Mokuba was kidnapped, he never left me alone with you, and as one of my few remaining bodyguards, I had to make him think I still trusted him and wanted him by my side."

"Oh." It seemed to be her day for lame responses. She looked down at Mokuba, who was practically asleep on his feet, leaning against his brother. It reminded her.

"What will happen to Dan?" She resolutely did not look at the body still lying on the dais. Instead she looked into Seto's eyes, and saw an expression there that she was shocked to realize was jealousy.

"He'll be fine," said Seto gruffly. "Forget Dan." he commanded, then stepped forward, put his arm around her waist, and kissed her thoroughly.

When it was over, she was breathless, leaning helplessly against his chest. He kissed the hair at her temple, and held her.

It was decision time. Serenity found that she'd already made hers.

"The Minoan game was a template for sound weaponry." She spoke into his neck. Giving in seemed easier somehow if she didn't have to look in his face.

"The game board was like a map. The gamechip's markings corresponded to different board maps and each chip was like a whistle. I think each one had a different tone, for different types of weak spots in the earth's crust. Remember those wall paintings in museums of those big long horns the Minoans had? Everyone thought they were for ceremonial music, but Joey thought they'd somehow mapped out weak spots in the tectonic plates – floors of volcanoes, rifts in the earth, stuff like that. Then they'd go to the weak spot and blow the horn with the particular tone that would cause that plate to shift. They could control earthquakes that way, by knowing where to sound the tone, and what tone would make that particular plate shift. Joey thought they tried to wipe out the island of Thera, their trade rivals, that way but messed up and caused a tsunami which wiped out their island as well. That's the secret."

Seto's arm tightened around her, and she felt his breath against her forehead. "Why are you telling me this now?"

"Because I trust you. Because I think I've fallen in love with you."

She pulled back a little to look at him. "But I'm not telling you everything, you know. I promised Joey I wouldn't, and even if he was wrong about you, a promise is a promise. He gave my the mathematical formula that converts the game board and chip inscriptions to actual map coordinates and, I think even sound tones, though he hadn't guessed that the chips themselves were whistle simulations of the tones. So even if I love you, I'm still not telling."

She lifted her chin defiantly, and thought of the other piece of the puzzle Joey got from Larson. The real Minoan gameboards had been multilayered, set in wooden trays, probably to signify the exact depth of the earth's weak points. The wooden trays all decomposed the instant oxygen hit them, but Larson had seen them in the moment he entered the Minoan chamber, and he'd never forgot, and told Joey about it.

Seto regarded her seriously for a moment. "Even if you love me," he repeated softly, "I wouldn't want you to break your promise. Besides, we get enough earthquakes without causing more. If Yoshi Takahashi has done nothing else, he showed me insanity of wanting power for power's sake. That's somewhere I don't want to go."

He placed his hand on top of Mokuba's head.

"I almost lost my family today because of this secret." He said reflectively. "I don't think it's worth it." He looked back at Serenity.

"Keep your secret. The only ones left who know about the program and my suspicions about the game are dead now or will be in jail or an insane asylum by the end of the day. Except for you, of course."

"So you're not going to kill me or put me in jail or an insane asylum?" she asked, knowing that she was teasing him, actually teasing Seto Kaiba.

"No, to keep your secret safe though, I think I'll have to marry you."

"What did you just say?" asked Serenity wonderingly, not sure if she heard correctly.

"Marry me." It was a demand, urgent, serious, and it woke Mokuba.

"What's going on?" he asked complainingly, pushing back from Seto's side to look up at him.

"I'm asking Serenity to marry me."

Mokuba wrinkled his nose. "Well it's about time! What took you so long?"

o-o-o

And that was how Serenity Wheeler became engaged to Seto Kaiba. Despite having to be interviewed by the police, Seto did end up playing in the Tokyo tournament. Yoshi Takahashi withdrew from the tournament amid rumor and wild speculations. Seto refused to comment when reporters asked him for his reaction to Yoshi's withdrawal.

He made it almost all the way to the top, beating the new kid, Bobby Taylor, and Kenji Kanazawa (who made it to third place), but lost to Yugi Moto, who played his heart out.

Used to the way Joey would get depressed after a defeat, Serenity asked Seto if he minded losing. Seto merely looked at her, and taking her hand, pressed it flat against his chest.

"I deserved to lose. Yugi Moto won because he gave his whole heart to the game. My heart was already lost, to you."

THE END

A/N: I know, I know, the ending was overly sentimental and completely OOC for Seto, but I couldn't resist. As for the Minoan Game secret, I sincerely doubt that blowing horns near tectonic plates can cause them to shift, but it makes for a great theory about why the Minoan civilization declined. Sound wave research has been done with weapons applications in recent years, however the sound waves generated from these devices are directed at humans, not the ground. So the Minoan Game's secret is just science fiction, and not very probable fiction at that.

Notes to Reviewers:

Blu.lotus – Why thank you! I don't know about deserving more reviews, but I'm very grateful for the ones that I do get. I'm glad you enjoyed the mystery aspect of the story, and I hope the ending didn't disappoint you.

Sakurelle – Just for you, I updated before leaving for vacation at the end of the week. I just couldn't leave you in suspense over Mokuba.

Bluedragonflyofdestiny – I know, poor Mokuba always gets to be the means by which enemies get to Seto, but at least he made it out alive. I tried to bring out the familial bonds as much as possible in my story, because I always thought it was really cute how Seto tried to be so aloof in the anime series, yet he always had a soft spot for his brother.

IrethAncalime3791 – Ack! You guessed the traitor in your last review. Sigh. I guess I was a bit transparent. I plead 'it was my first fanfiction' as my excuse. P.S. You're welcome for the review!

B.E.W.DwarriorPrincess – Sorry, I don't have a sequel planned. Since I'm marrying off Seto and Serenity at the end of the story I sort of planned to leave it at 'and they lived happily ever after'. Plus, I've been mostly writing Rurouni Kenshin fanfics for the past year so I'm horribly out of practice at Yu-gi-oh stories.

Jean-Luc Lover – Ack! Like IrethAncalime3791, you too guessed my plot twist! Sigh. I've really got to work on being less predictable. I hope you liked the ending. P.S. I read your profile, and I'm so with you on hating Quarterly Tax Returns – (I also despise Car Insurance Payments too)

WolfDaughter – Your instincts were right about Dan and Angus. I hope the ending wasn't too predictable! Thanks for reading. You're a real trooper to muddle through my non-RK story, especially since it was my first fanfic and I didn't really know what I was doing.


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